1655
oil
canvas
From the collection of Ashmolean Museum
The Head of St Catherine is a 1655 oil by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini, depicting Earring, held at Ashmolean Museum.
This painting is a portrait of a woman, depicted from the shoulders up. She is shown in profile, with her head turned slightly to the right. Her dark hair is pulled back, and she wears a white, draped garment around her neck. A gold earring with a pearl hangs from her left ear. The woman's expression is calm and serene, and her features are rendered in soft, delicate brushstrokes. The background of the painting is dark, which helps to emphasize the subject's face and clothing. The artist's use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts of light and dark to create a sense of volume and depth, adds depth and dimension to the painting. If you're interested in learning more about this technique, you might want to look up chiaroscuro.
Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609–1681), also called Gian Domenico Cerrini or il Cavalier Perugino, was a painter of the Baroque period, born in Perugia and active mainly in Rome and influenced in large part by painters of the Bolognese School.
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