Profile Portrait of a Young Lady

Colored pencil and graphite on thick smooth wove paper.

In the lower left sheet corner, August Mosca annotated that this drawing was made after a reproduction by Domenico Veneziano. Today, this painting resides at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin under the attribution of Piero del Pollaiuolo. It has however also been attributed to his brother Antonio del Pollaiuolo, and before that to Piero della Francesca and Sandro Botticelli. For further reading on these changing attribution, we recommend the well-written Wikipedia article on this subject.

Regardless of the painting’s attribution, it should be noted that Mosca, like many artists, clearly admired this painting. Portraits by Italian Renaissance masters such as this one are among the most copied artwork in Western art history. Mosca didn’t just copy the painting, he did so in his preferred technique, (colored) pencil drawing, and on a large scale.

Signed, dated, and annotate in pencil in the lower left sheet corner.