Study of a Head Looking Upward (recto)

The upward looking head is probably a preliminary drawing for the head of the Madonna in the Doni Tondo in the Uffizi. Some scholars have suggested a connection between the drawing and the head of Jonah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. According to them, the sheet was created around 1511, with the artist adopting the head of the Doni Madonna in mirror image for the head of Jonah.

The verso of the sheet contains red chalk caricatures of a head looking upward.