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Head of an Old Woman by Orazio Borgianni. Head and shoulders of an old woman bent forward and turned to the left, lit hard from the upper left with deep shadow on the far side of the face and under the brow.

Orazio Borgianni (1578–1616), Head of an Old Woman, after 1610. Oil on canvas, 20 7/8 x 15 3/8 in. (53 x 39 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Gwynne Andrews Fund and Marco Voena and Luigi Koelliker Gift, 2010. Public domain (CC0).

Portrait references

Head of an Old Woman

  • Three-quarter view
  • Side light
  • Painting

Head and shoulders of an old woman bent forward and turned to the left, lit hard from the upper left with deep shadow on the far side of the face and under the brow.

Open in the value study maker

The image is free to use for any purpose: the museum has released it into the public domain.

Value studies

Head of an Old Woman as a study in 2 values
Notan, 2 values. Split at value 3.1: 75% of the picture is dark and 25% light.
Head of an Old Woman as a study in 3 values
3 values. 65% dark (values 0 to 2.1), 18% middle (2.1 to 4.1) and 17% light (4.1 to 10).
Head of an Old Woman as a study in 5 values
5 values. From darkest to lightest: 37%, 29%, 13%, 11% and 10% of the picture.

Split at the picture's natural breaks between light and dark, with Simplify at 5, as in the value study maker. Values run from 0 (black) to 10 (white).

Palette

  • #271A11Value 1.1, warm
    26%
  • #362315Value 1.6, warm
    18%
  • #19110BValue 0.6, neutral
    15%
  • #906B45Value 4.8, warm
    9%
  • #4E3722Value 2.5, warm
    9%
  • #352A21Value 1.8, warm
    8%
  • #6D4F31Value 3.6, warm
    8%
  • #AE8F6BValue 6.1, warm
    7%

The 8 main colors run from value 0.6 to 6.1: 7 warm and 1 neutral. See warm and cool colors for how the labels are worked out.

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