Woman Seated on the Ground/Woman Holding a Distaff Woman Seated on the Ground (recto)

One of the most prolific draughtsmen of the Renaissance, Parmigianino seems to have made this drawing of a female figure, who may be a saint or a Roman slave, as an experiment in technique and expressive form. Rather than using white only for highlights, as was common practice at the time, he applied it extensively to the woman’s face, hands and drapery to create volume as well as detail. The contrast between white bodycolour and black chalk produces a subtle effect of light and dark appropriate to the figure’s meditative pose and expression.