Verrocchio’s black chalk drawing, the Ideal Head of a Young Woman, is an early example of the use of sfumato in Renaissance drawing. It is argued that the use of sfumato within the forms and not for the outline is deliberate, serving to suggest that the drawing represents a marble relief sculpture coming to life. The artist’s use of sfumato within the outlines to represent a marble relief sculpture coming to life (or vice versa) to suggest how perception through the senses is equivalent to intellectual knowledge. A portrait of the poet’s beloved, of the idea of love, and of the poetic imagination as if sculptured.