The Portrait chapter 11
The del Sarto portrait fits neatly into the cube-like form (a). It is remarkable that with only two large shapes of shadow, in the
eye socket and on the side of the head and neck, del Sarto has rendered a solid three-dimensional head. You can see how
deeply the eyes are set underneath the brow bone by the darkness of the tone in the shadow.
It’s interesting that the portrait with the planes mapped out (b) appears so much more detailed than the finished drawing. Of
course, the planes are meant to indicate slight shifts in form within the face. This clearly illustrates how much information del
Sarto conveyed through apparently simple means. With subtle changes in tone, the artist rendered the small structures of the
face, while the higher-contrasted tones were used to “sculpt” the big form of the head.
a bCONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE