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Head of a Bearded Old Man in Three-Quarter View Looking Down

Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century

17th century

Head of a Bearded Old Man in Three-Quarter View Looking Down by Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century

Medium

Oil paint on paper, varnished

Dimensions

9-3/8 x 7-7/8 in. (23.8 x 20 cm)

Classification

Drawings

Department

Drawings and Prints

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880

Accession Number

80.3.479

Tags

HeadsMenPortraits

Art Historical Context

This intimate 17th-century study *Head of a Bearded Man in Three-Quarter Looking Down*, captures the dignity of its subject through the skilled hand of an anonymous Italian artist the Roman-Bolognese. Bologna, a hub of artistic innovation during the Baroque era, produced masters like the Carracci brothers and Guercino, whose on naturalistic portraiture and emotional depth influenced such works. Here, the old man's downward gaze and textured beard evoke quiet introspection, a common motif in studies of human character that served as preparatory sketches for larger compositions. Remarkably exec...

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