La Scapiliata - Head of a Woman

"Head of a Woman" or La Scapiliata, is a painting on a small walnut wood panel, measuring 9.7 x 8.3 inches. The painting is thinner on the rear and along the edges, as was Leonardo’s custom for portraits during his Lombardy period.

The painting was prepared with a mixture of white lead onto which the drawing was applied with umber. Green amber was probably applied at a later date, perhaps containing malachite - and cinnabar - based pigments.

Analysis under a powerful microscope has revealed traces of pounce marks along the woman’s chin and the edge of her nose - a technique typical of Leonardo which can also be found in the portrait of “Ginevra de’ Benci” (Washington, National Gallery of Art) and in “Lady with an Ermine” in the Krakow Museum.

Some theories suggest that Leonardo’s painting may have been a gift from nobleman Nicola Maffei to the duchess Isabella d’Este who had it hung in the private apartment of Margherita Paleologa, who married her son Federico II Gonzaga in 1531.

Although there are no records of its whereabouts, it probably remained in Lombardy until the 18th century, when it was found in the collection of the painter and sculptor Gaetano Callani who visited Milan from 1773 to 1778. After his death, his son Francesco sold it to the Accademia di Belle Arti in Parma and, in 1839, Leonardo’s work officially became part of the Dukes of Parma’s collections.

The Italian title of the painting, “La Scapiliata”, meaning The Disheveled Lady, owes its name to the messy locks of hair which surround the young girl's face. We do not know if this is a portrait or if this feminine head might be related to some religious motif. Although we don't know who she is, her charm is undeniable.

The way the young woman’s mane of hair has been rendered may be related to the words that Leonardo wrote in his "Treatise on Painting": “Depict hair which an imaginary wind causes to play about youthful faces, and adorn heads you paint with curling locks of various kinds.” It was a technique used by artists to give figures a natural appearance, a sense of movement, and vivacity of expression.

The faint outline of the hair, which seems to swell as if blowing in the wind, before falling back onto her shoulders in little curled waves, is in strong contrast to the calibrated effect of the light which emphasises the young woman's wide forehead, straight nose, and small, round chin. This supports the assumption that Leonardo had deliberately left the sketch unfinished, rather than it being a work in progress.

The girl’s pose, with her head facing down, a delicately engrossed expression and a veiled, slightly ambiguous smile playing on her lips, bears a striking similarity to the figures in the second version of “The Virgin of the Rocks” (London, National Gallery), dating from between 1493 and 1506–8.

The composition of “Head of a Woman” was already very successful in Leonardo’s time, as demonstrated by how the subject was portrayed by students of the Master or by other contemporary painters and the numerous copies it has inspired down the centuries.