St Luke Drawing the Virgin (detail)

In the foreground, luxuriously dressed, Luke sits comfortably on a stone ledge, his legs casually crossed and his sandal having fallen to the floor. He records the poses of the Virgin and Child, who are physically present before him, not a vision as in his later painting of the same subject. In Luke’s drawing, the Virgin looks to her right, not at the rose in her hand, indicating that Luke draws her as he sees her, not as we do it.