Study for Detail: Head of a Cherub

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's "Study for Detail: Head of a Cherub" (1750/59) is a red chalk drawing heightened with touches of white chalk on blue laid paper. This is a preparatory study for a cherub's head in one of Tiepolo's ceiling frescoes or altarpieces. Cherubs—the infant angels that populate Baroque and Rococo religious art—were a specialty of Tiepolo's, and his studies of them are among the most charming works on paper of the 18th century. The red chalk on blue paper technique creates a warm, glowing effect, the red heightening giving the cherub's face a rosy, lifelike quality. The touches of white chalk add highlights that make the face seem to emerge from the blue paper. The head is turned in a three-quarter view, the expression sweet and innocent. This study reveals Tiepolo's working method: before painting the cherub in his fresco, he would make detailed studies of individual heads, working out the pose and expression before integrating the figure into the larger composition. The resulting fresco would have the spontaneity of a sketch combined with the precision of careful preparation.

Tiepolo's cherub studies are among the most delightful works on paper of the 18th century, capturing the sweetness and innocence of childhood with extraordinary technical skill.

This red chalk study of a cherub's head captures the sweetness and grace of Tiepolo's angelic figures, the warm medium and delicate highlights creating an image of heavenly innocence.