Head of a Cleric
by ANGELICO, Fra, Metalpoint on prepared ochre surface, heightened with white, 189 x 173 mm
This study of exceptional quality is either a drawing by Fra Angelico which should be considered as a model given by the master to his pupils, or it is the work of the most famous of Angelico’s pupils at the time, Benozzo Gozzoli. The verso of the drawing depicts a group of figures directly related to the frescoes for the chapel of Pope Nicholas V, completed in the Vatican palace by Fra Angelico and his workshop about 1448. The verso can be ascribed to the studio of Fra Angelico.