Willem van Mieris was one of the most famous artists of the school of the Fijnschilders, painters active in Leiden in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who specialized in small format, very realistic, and meticulously executed paintings. Willem van Mieris was also a prolific draftsman. He founded the Leiden Academy of Drawing in 1694 and directed it until 1736. Willem van Mieris’ drawings, usually executed in black and white chalk on blue paper, were often made as preparatory studies for his paintings. The present Study of a Woman's Head Looking to the Right is preparatory for the face of the woman in the painting The Drunkenness of Silenus in the museum of Clermont-Ferrand.