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Home | Exhibitions | Barocci: A lesson in drawing | Barocci Drawings: Types of drawingsBellori calls Barocci’s head studies ‘arie di teste’ (faces expressing great emotional naturalism) and tells us that when the artist saw someone with a beautiful glance, a pleasant profile, or a fine mouth, he used to invite the person into his studio and make him or her pose for him. He would then create a charming head drawing with a gentle expression using blended tones. These incredibly finished studies made in oil, coloured chalks and pastels, have an exceptional importance in Barocci’s preparatory process and had no precedents. They were almost certainly created at a late stage in the compositional process and it is easy to speculate that once the drawings had served their practical purpose they could have perhaps served as ‘ricordi’ (souvenirs) of his famous compositions.