Head of Leonardo di Lorenzo Morelli

Andrea studied Morelli from life to prepare his portrait in the altarpiece the silk merchant commissioned of the Archangel Raphael, Tobias, and St. Leonard (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Lavishing attention on the sitter's elegant profile, the artist manipulates chalk and reserves of paper to invoke his full lips, cheekbones, and light-colored eye as he looks up at the divine.