Head of a young man looking upward
Centre Italian School, first half of the 17th century
Black chalk with oxidised white heightening, on blue paper. Size of sheet: c. 11.2 x 10.1 cm.
Inscribed in pen and ink Folli. Fully laid on album sheet.
Provenance: Stefan von Licht (1860-1932), Vienna (L.789b).
An old attribution to Sienese artist Sebastiano Folli (c. 1569 - Siena - 1622) written on the present study could be supported by the comparison with the head of the young monk on the left of Folli’s altarpiece representing the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alessandria, (documented in 1609, Siena, Basilica of San Domenico).
The drawing comes from the collection of Stefan von Licht, who owned several Sienese drawings, evidently derived form sketchbooks compiled by early Sienese collectors, including a sheet by Folli's master Alessandro Casolani, formerly attributed to Sebastiano Folli.
Alternatively, our head study is somehow reminiscent of Annibale Carracci's preparatory drawings for the figures of the vault of the Galleria Farnese in Rome, in black chalk heightened with white (1597/1602, Paris, Louvre, inv. 7325), suggesting a link also to the Carracci's circle.
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