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Your galleryStudy for the "Madonna of the Rosary"
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Follow the white highlights over the Virgin’s knees and drapery, then notice the faint angels sketched at either side beneath the red grid.
In this study of about 1589 for his Madonna of the Rosary, the Virgin sits on clouds with her hands joined, angels on either side. Barocci used black and red chalk, brown wash and white highlights on tan paper, then ruled a red grid over it so the design could be copied square by square. Sold in Paris in 2007 as attributed to Francesco Vanni, it was recognized as Barocci’s the same year.
Black chalk, with brush and brown wash, red chalk, and touches of graphite, heightened with white chalk and white gouache, on tan laid paper, squared in red chalk · 28.2 × 39 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · High Renaissance and Mannerism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Study for the "Madonna of the Rosary"
- Artist
- Federico Barocci Italian, 1528–1612
- Date
- c. 1589
- Medium
- Black chalk, with brush and brown wash, red chalk, and touches of graphite, heightened with white chalk and white gouache, on tan laid paper, squared in red chalk
- Dimensions
- 28.2 × 39 cm (11 1/8 × 15 3/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.