BOTTICELLI, Sandro
(b. 1445, Firenze, d. 1510, Firenze)

Study of two standing figures

c. 1475
Metal point on primed paper, white highlights, 165 x 100 mm
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille

This study is one of the few remaining drawings directly related to a painting by Botticelli. The artist, who to judge by the style may have been Botticelli's student Filippino Lippi, was testing the posture and stance of the two young men who can be seen at the front left in the Adoration of the Magi. There are differences in the head and hand positions of the figure at the rear, so that it is likely that this work was produced as part of the preparations for that group of figures.