Head and shoulders of St Ursula

The head and face of St Ursula are characterized by only a few lines in the drawing. The eye orbits along with the shapes of the nose, mouth, chin and throat are indicated by short and sometimes slightly staggered parallel strokes. Finely elaborated parallel and cross-hatching defines the distribution of light and shade not only in the face but also in the area of the gown and brooch. The latter is drawn in meticulous detail, but the painted version shows it smaller and with a simpler design. Alongside the higher décolleté of the dress in the painted version, a further discrepancy between it and the underdrawing is the reduction in size of the arrowhead.

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