FRANCESCO CURRADI | HEAD OF A YOUNG GIRL LOOKING DOWN

Clearly drawn from life, this study of a pensive young woman is a demonstration of Curradi's meticulous way of preparing his canvases. Oil on paper studies like this must have formed a significant part of his working method, although few have survived. Generally, Curradi studied very carefully on paper every detail of his composition, starting with the figures, right down to the anatomical details of hands, feet and heads. For some of his heads, he must also have executed more elaborate oil on paper studies such as this. The slightly silvery hint of the skin seems quite typical of the diaphanous colouring of some of his faces. Normally, Curradi's figure studies do not differ greatly from the final figures in the finished painting, but this head does not seem to correspond exactly with any known painted figure.  

Curradi was born in the second half of the sixteenth century, and was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Naldini (c. 1537-1591). Studies such as this highlight his links with the reformist movement of the late Cinquecento that began with Santi di Tito (1536-1603), and with the naturalistic trend in painting that developed in Florence soon after the Counter Reformation.