Study of a Girl’s Head
Ca. 1790. Black chalk, Red chalk on laid paper.Not on display
The inscription, which was probably written by the drawing’s first owner, Valentín Carderera, reads: "Portrait of the Carmona family by D. Ana M. Mengs". This is the most convincing attribution, although other drawings in a similar technique are known by Anna’s husband, the engraver Manuel Salvador Carmona. The young girl could be one of the couple’s children. The daughter of the Neo-classical painter Anton Raphael Mengs, Anna Maria achieved great renown for her miniatures and pastel drawings. In 1790 she was made an academician of honour at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid.
