GIOVANNI GIROLAMO SAVOLDO
45 Study of the Head of a
Bearded Man
Black and white chalk on gray-green paper; H: 30.6 cm
(i2I/i6 in.); W: 22.9 cm (9 in.)
83.06.17
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom left cor-
ner, collection mark of Giuseppe Vallardi (L. 1223);
(verso) inscribed Rubens in brown ink; undecipherable
red chalk numbers superimposed on the inscription.
PROVENANCE: Giuseppe Vallardi, Milan; Countess
Adelheid Lanckoronska, Vienna (sale, Christie's, Lon-
don, March 30, 1971, lot 100); private collection, Paris;
art market, Geneva.EXHIBITIONS: Dessins frangais et italiens.du XVle et du
XVIIe siecle dans les collections privees fran^aises, Galerie
Claude Aubry, Paris, December 1971, no. 99.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
THE MAJORITY OF THE SMALL GROUP OF SURVIVING
drawings by Savoldo are studies of heads comparable in
scale and medium to this sheet. It is closest to the Head of
a Woman in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. 12806) and to an
untraceable study for the head of Saint Paul in the altar-
piece in Santa Maria in Organo, Verona, of 1533 (for-
merly Florence, C. Loeser collection).^1 The Museum's
sheet is comparable to the study of Saint Paul in the pose
of the head, the morphology of the eyes and nose, and
the broad, painterly draughtsmanship. It shares several
of these same qualities with the UfFizi study of a woman,
especially the way in which the eye sockets and lids are
drawn. As is true of a large proportion of the head studies
by Savoldo, the Museum's drawing shows considerable
evidence of rubbing in some areas. Given the association
with the drawing of Saint Paul, this sheet would appear
to date from approximately the same point in the artist's
career.
i. J. Schonbrunner andj. Meder, Handzeichnungen alter Meister
aus der Albertina und anderen Sammlungen (Vienna, 1904), vol. 9,
no. 1007.
GIOVANNI GIROLAMO SAVOLDO (Italian, circa 1480-1548).
Study for the Head of Saint Paul. Black chalk and white chalk
heightening on greenish blue paper. H: 28 cm (ii^1 /! in.);
W: 22.4 cm (8^7 /s in.). Location unknown.112 ITALIAN SCHOOL • SAVOLDO