The head of a youth in a turban c. 1645-50
Red chalk | 16.5 x 14.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 903947
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64)
The head of a youth in a turban c. 1645-50
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A drawing of the head and shoulders of a youth, facing right. He has long hair and wears a turban. This is one of Castiglione’s few drawings in red chalk, yet it shows how readily he mastered the challenges of the medium. He understood how to vary the pressure of the chalk on the paper, when to juxtapose parallel hatching with sinuous contours, and when to leave passages of paper untouched. The features are close to those of the principal figure in the etching The Genius of G.B. Castiglione; RCIN 830465.
Provenance
Probably Carlo II and Fernandino-Carlo Gonzaga, 9th and 10th Dukes of Mantua; Zaccaria Sagredo; from whose heirs purchased by Joseph Smith, British Consul in Venice, 1752; from whom purchased by George III, 1762
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Medium and techniques
Red chalk
Measurements
16.5 x 14.0 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)