Head of a Baby

school Verrocchio

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing from the School of Verrocchio. The drawing portrays the head of a baby with thick, curly hair, looking out towards the viewer with a slightly anxious expression. The infant is facing towards the front right and its head is slightly tilted up to the top right corner. There is a suggestion of the baby's shoulder, right arm and torso in the lower half of the composition. The top corners of the composition are rounded into an arched frame, and in each corner is a floral design. The drawing is done in black markings with white highlights on the baby's cheeks, lips and eyelids. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No.1 SCHOOL OF VERROCCHIO HEAD OF A BABY Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Vansittart Collection). Black chalk and silver-point heightened with white, on prepared paper; details of frame in pen and ink. 22.9 x 15.9 cm. (9 x 6 1/4 in.) No school presents more intricate problems to the connoisseur than that of Verrocchio's atelier, from which this drawing appears to have had its origin. The hair here is treated very nearly as it is in the angel's head of the Uffizi and the woman's head of the British Museum which are ascribed to Verrochio. But the author of this drawing shows quite clearly the influence of Verrocchio's pupils. The mouth is drawn in Lorenzo de Credi's manner, and the treatment of the modelling is already Leonardesque. But the drawing of the eyes lacks the precision and delicacy of Lorenzo's work, nor are they quite in the manner of Botticini; the somewhat stoney treatment of the modelling suggests a sculptor's hand, and Verrocchio's school seems therefore to be the best label that can be affixes to the work."