Head of St Mark
by DÜRER, Albrecht, Chalk with white highlights, 373 x 265 mm
This is a study for the Apostle in the great Munich painting. In its expression of spiritual excitement the head in this drawing is decidedly superior to the one in the painting. Tossing briskly, the locks of hair continue the theme of movement. At the same time, the natural appearance of the hair seems to have been oddly neglected in the rendering (“pretzel locks”). Drawings of this type, in very large format and only superficially finished, do not occur in the earlier period.