Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
Pietro da Cortona drew this angelically beautiful face in a style reminiscent of the work of Renaissance master Raphael (1483–1520). Cortona's use of black chalk to develop extremely subtle effects of shading shows the technique at its most refined. He drew this sheet in preparation for a ceiling decoration, Saint Michael and Angels with the Instruments of the Passion, painted in fresco in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (better known as the Chiesa Nuova, or "New Church") in Rome, completed in 1633.
Provenance
1979: Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 28 March 1979, no. 173a (as Francesco Romanelli in catalogue, attribution changed to Pietro da Cortona by date of sale). 1979?-1996: Duke Roberto Ferretti di Castelferretto, London. 1996: his sale, Christie's, London, 2 July 1996, no. 47. 1996-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Pietro da Cortona (Italian, 1596–1669)
- Date
- 1633
- Medium
- black chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 19 x 16.8 cm (7 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 31.9 x 27.6 cm (12 9/16 x 10 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1996.257
More by Pietro da Cortona in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011080
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