Benedetto Luti, Head of a Bearded Man, 1715, NGA 62985

Benedetto Luti

What you practise here

Pencil/sanguine portrait: likeness and facial chiaroscuro

Start from the skull as a ball, place the brow line and the centre line, then check the thirds of the face before any detail. Compare angles, not features.

Public-domain artwork from a museum collection, reproduced for study. 100% real art — 0% AI.

Other artworks to study

Seated Nude Male Figure (recto); Seated Figure (verso) Portrait of a Man Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716–1806) with a Dog Study of Eleven Heads Portrait of a Young Man Study of Two Heads