A child's head c. 1504 - 1506

Raphael made this drawing of a child’s head using pen and brown ink on paper, and it now resides in the Städel Museum. We may understand it as a preparatory sketch made in Renaissance Italy. During this time, the role of the artist began to change. No longer merely a craftsman, an artist like Raphael was increasingly seen as a figure of intellectual vision and creative genius. Such a perception was promoted and maintained by institutions such as the art academy, with its emphasis on drawing from life. Yet art did not exist in a social vacuum. Religious belief, courtly life, humanist philosophy, and emerging scientific knowledge—these all shaped the production of images. It is a process that continues to the present day. By consulting primary documents like letters and contracts, as well as secondary literature, the art historian attempts to reconstruct the rich social context that makes an artwork meaningful.