Study of a Madonna looking upward

This study of a woman gazing upward, executed on blue paper, was created at the end of the artist’s stay in Antwerp and Brussels in the years 1634-35, prior to his return to England. The head and draped upper body are recorded with concise and organic chalk lines; the white highlights indicate more brightly lit passages. The figure served as a study for the mourning Mary, Mother of God, in a Lamentation of Christ that has been preserved in several versions. However, in the paintings, the position of the head and the passage including the shoulders differ somewhat from their form in the drawing. The economy of Anton van Dyck’s manner of working is revealed by the fact that he did not elaborate those parts of the figure that were subsequently to be concealed behind the body of Christ.