Ubaldo Gandolfi

Slight foxing scattered, especially along the right margins. Trace of folds in the middle dew to the drying of the sheet. On the right edge the paper is wrinkled. There are defects like ridges in the paper and slight buckling. Few tiny light stains in the light part of the draped cloth. Overall media in good condition.
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A typical but none the less rare study in red chalk, done from life, of the head of a young woman.  Head studies, in all media, are an interesting aspect of Ubaldo's draftsmanship and painted œuvre, and his portraits, chiefly those of women and children, became very sought after and collected by his contemporaries.  These were generally produced in the late 1760s or the 1770s, and are sometimes referred as 'Teste di carattere'.  They definitively betray a Venetian inspiration, and a knowledge of similar studies by Piazzetta.  It is possible that Ubaldo's brother Gaetano, while in Venice in 1760, may have encountered Piazzetta's 'Teste di carattere', which had contributed so much to create and popularize this genre.

Although this handsome study must have been made for its own sake, it could also have been used by the artist as his inspiration for the head of Andromeda, in the painting of Andromeda rescued by Perseus, in the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte, Bologna (fig. 1).  The painting and its pendant depicting Diana and Endymion were executed around 1770, for the apartment of the gonfaloniere of Bologna. 

For two other very similar red chalk studies by Ubaldo, see: M. Cazort, Bella Pittura, The Art of the Gandolfi, exhib. cat., Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1993, p. 58, nos. 33 and 34, reproduced.