Getty Museum

Head of a Man

Creator

Italian Artist · 1503–1572

Mannerist painter and poet Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino was the pupil of Pontormo, who influenced him heavily early in his career. By about 1530 Bronzino had moved away from Pontormo's nervous sensibility and developed an art and career independent of his master. His new style was first evident in his portraits. For Bronzino, a portrait was a mask. Rather than revealing the sitter's character, the Fl

More on Getty ULAN

Date: about 1550–1555
Medium: Black chalk
Culture: Italian
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum

Using delicate chalk strokes, Agnolo Bronzino built up the head of a young Florentine nobleman. Soft, careful lines create the curling strands of hair on his head, the pale fuzz on his chin, and his broad, piercing, almond-shaped eyes with their large irises. Numerous lines of cross-hatching create the darker shadows on the right side of the face and the long, elegant neck. Bronzino probably made this drawing from life; slight pentimenti in the right ear and eye imply adjustments made in front of the live model. Bronzino drew this head as a study for a painted portrait of the young man, but no one has yet discovered the man's name. Technical analysis of the painting reveals that he made numerous changes on the canvas as he developed his composition. The Getty Museum's drawing therefore gives scholars an important idea of the artist's earliest conception of the portrait, probably even before he began to paint.

View at Getty Museum ↗

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Getty Museum

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.