TANZIO DA VARALLO
(b. ca. 1580, Riale d’Alagna, d. ca. 1632, Varallo)

Study for an Angel

1631-32
Red chalk on red prepared paper, 356 x 252 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Tanzio da Varallo's graphic oeuvre is homogeneous: most of his drawings are figure studies executed in red chalk on pink prepared paper, and almost every sheet is connected with a painting by the artist. This characteristic sheet is a study for the angel holding a sceptre and lilies to the right of the figure of Christ in Glory in the Chapel of the Ascension in Sant'Antonio Abbate, Milan.