Head of the Virgin

Venice in the 1730s was selling its own charm to Europe, all light and pastel and grace on demand, and Giambattista Pittoni worked at the centre of that Rococo trade. This quiet head of the Virgin shows its softer side. She isn't cast down in the usual pious way. Her eyes drift to one side, awake and a little remote, which unsettled viewers used to a lowered, modest gaze. The face echoes a full Nativity altarpiece Pittoni painted that now hangs in London. Whether this was a study toward that larger work or a small devotional piece in its own right, the handling is the same: thin, feathery strokes and a pale palette that leave the skin looking lit from within.