Female Head Study Looking Up to Right (recto); Study of Two Figures Supporting an Object (verso) 1630 - 1670

Curator: Let's turn our attention to a work attributed to an anonymous artist from the Baroque era, likely created between 1630 and 1670. It’s a study in pencil and charcoal on paper, titled "Female Head Study Looking Up to Right (recto); Study of Two Figures Supporting an Object (verso)" Editor: The first impression I get is one of quiet intensity. Her upward gaze lends a sort of hopeful expectancy to the drawing. Curator: The recto side focuses on a woman’s face, but it is important to note it exists as a sheet of paper where the making happened. Consider the pencil, the charcoal; the means and effort to transform material resources to make this. It prompts questions: what kind of paper was it? Where was it produced, and by whom? What social conditions determined the availability of materials for such work at that time? Editor: I see the lifted face, the pursed lips. What symbol could this woman represent? I wonder if her upward gaze hints at seeking divine intervention or perhaps reflects the common baroque theme of earthly struggles versus heavenly rewards. Curator: What’s interesting to me is this wasn’t initially conceived to be the masterpiece. The labor is embedded in it, so this isn’t high art but just simply work in its most unvarnished form. We could also explore it as a preparatory piece. Where does labor or prep intersect class? Editor: Thinking of artistic predecessors of this age, such as mythological or religious art, this simple figure with head upturned can recall so many images of longing and the soul, an individual yearning to become one with a higher power. The act of looking heavenward can embody more than one idea. Curator: What you point out is valuable, especially for a sketch that can appear humble, but again the key issue for me: paper wasn’t cheap at this time and place. There would need to be means to create this artwork. Editor: And I see something of an Everywoman in this nameless face—timeless emotion translated through readily accessible imagery that connects to a common visual language from across the ages. Curator: Yes, the materials remind us of those fundamental socio-economic conditions. Editor: Which add to the layered depth we're now both seeing. Thank you.