Female Head
by LEONARDO da Vinci, Charcoal, red chalk, white lead on paper
This lovely drawing might have served for a Madonna or one of Leonardo’s androgynous angels, smiling with divine inner knowledge. To model the delicate features, he used quick single lines, close hatching, and stumping, which is smudging the soft charcoal or chalk. His revolutionary innovation is most visible on the left part of the face, where the contour merges into shadow.