Various Sketches of the Madonna and Child (recto); Architectural Studies (verso) [partially visible on recto]
1570
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
![Various Sketches of the Madonna and Child (recto); Architectural Studies (verso) [partially visible on recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/90586edfc8e8efd5/full.webp)
1570
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a messy sheet of paper with eight quick drawings of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, some with little John the Baptist beside them. Veronese tried the same scene over and over, changing the folds of Mary’s robe or how the babies sit. These aren’t polished paintings—they’re warm-up sketches, like a musician running scales. The museum thinks this page started a whole series of similar works. If you like these loose, lively lines, look up sfumato—the soft, smoky way artists blurred edges in this time.
![Studies for Judith and Holofernes, David and Goliath, The Finding of Moses, and Others [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/e7509a7c8dd48fbb/thumb.webp)
