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Study of a Man's Head

1520–25
Not on view
This drawing by Pontormo is typical of the numerous head studies made by the Florentine Mannerists. Broadly drawn in his favored medium of red chalk, the study displays the idiosyncratic features seen in Pontormo's faces—sunken eyes, furrowed brown, dimpled cheeks and mouth. Complex light effects are masterfully rendered, the shadowed side of the face suggesting reflected light at the corner of the jaw and over the eye. This drawing, dated to the 1520s, is not related to any known painting. It may have been conceived as an independent work, though most of Pontormo's head studies appear to have been made in preparation for paintings.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study of a Man's Head
  • Artist: Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci) (Italian, Pontormo 1494–1556 Florence)
  • Date: 1520–25
  • Medium: Red chalk; stumping
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 5 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (13.3 × 11.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Pfeiffer and Harry G. Sperling Funds, Gift of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, and Karen B. Cohen Fund, 1998
  • Object Number: 1998.361
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Virgin and Child with Saint Elizabeth, the Infant Baptist, Saint Anthony of Padua, and a Female Martyr, Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci) Italian, Red chalk, brush and red wash
Virgin and Child with Saint Elizabeth, the Infant Baptist, Saint Anthony of Padua, and a Female Martyr
Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci)
1514–22
Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian
Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610
Marie Antoinette in a Park, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun French, Black chalk, stumped, and white chalk; framing lines in black chalk
Marie Antoinette in a Park
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Sitter Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
ca. 1780–81
Two Studies of a Seated Male Nude, Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci) Italian, Black chalk
Two Studies of a Seated Male Nude
Follower of Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci)
mid-16th century
Armor, Steel, copper alloy, textile, leather, Italian
Armor
Italian
ca. 1400–1450 and later

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