1526
chalk
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Jael and Cisera? [verso] is a 1526 chalk by Parmigianino, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a messy, tangled scene in red chalk. The lines are loose and uneven, with no clear shapes—just swirls, blobs, and overlapping marks. The paper is thin, and some edges are worn or torn, like the drawing was handled a lot. The artist didn’t finish it, leaving big gaps where the story might have been. The red chalk looks soft, almost like a quick doodle instead of a polished drawing. Next, look up Renaissance to see how artists like this played with sketches before final paintings.
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (UK: , US: , Italian: ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist…
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