Three Studies of the Head of a Youth

From the Getty Museum record

Three studies of the head of a youth wearing a cap are placed harmoniously on a single sheet of paper. The top two studies show the young figure in profile. In the lower half of the page, the subject holds a more frontal pose looking downward and to his right with a fixed gaze. Composed of a series of confidently applied, curving strokes, the boy's black curls wrap around his ears in two of the studies and serve as a strong contrast to his light-colored cap. In the lower head, the boy's dark curls are also contrasted with short, light lines that delineate the nose and mouth. Although the three studies have not been connected to any known painting by Francesco Fontebasso, very similar heads of youths do appear in a number of his works. Scholars believe studies were a studio exercise used later as a reference for painted works. The top two heads show Fontebasso mastering *profile perdu* (lost profile), where a figure is drawn turned away from the artist, thus presenting a difficult and dramatically foreshortened pose.