The Head of a Young Woman

1605-1680

Not on view

When this study of a young woman with downcast eyes and loosely flowing tresses entered the Museum's collection more than a century ago, it was considered to be by an artist active in Rome in the seventeenth century, but later opinions have inclined toward the Procaccini family of artists active in Bologna and Milan. One suggested attribution has been to Giulio Cesare Procaccini (Bologna 1574-1625 Milan). More likely this is a work by his nephew, Ercole Procaccini The Younger (or Ercole III Procaccini), as proposed by Nicolas Swed (8/17/2026). Giulio Cesare invented an often recognizable female type, as we see in the physiognomy of this young woman with averted gaze and smiling with serene sweetness. His nephew Ercole often emulated this figural style while drawing with a looser, more pictorial treatment of the red chalk. (CCB)

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: The Head of a Young Woman
Artist: Ercole Procaccini The Younger (Italian, Milan 1605-1680 Milan)
Date: 1605-1680
Medium: Red chalk
Dimensions: 8-5/8 x 6-1/4 in. (21.9 x 15.9 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880
Object Number: 80.3.90
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Ercole Procaccini The Younger

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Design for a Frieze: A Nude Man, Sea Creature, a Garland and Volutes, Small Head of Unicorn, Ercole Procaccini The Younger Italian, Pen and brown ink over black chalk — Design for a Frieze: A Nude Man, Sea Creature, a Garland and Volutes, Small Head of Unicorn
Ercole Procaccini The Younger
1600–30

Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian — Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610

Cottage near the Entrance to a Wood, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Pen and inks ranging from light to dark brown, brown washes, corrected in white (oxidized, partially abraded), and touches of red chalk (in added structures to the left of the main cottage). — Cottage near the Entrance to a Wood
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1644

Studies of Heads, Ercole Procaccini The Younger Italian, Engraving — Studies of Heads
Ercole Procaccini The Younger
After Battista Franco

Armor, Steel, copper alloy, textile, leather, Italian — Armor
Italian
ca. 1400–1450 and later

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