An elderly man’s bearded head is painted in pastel pink, white, and grey colored tempera.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

An elderly man’s bearded head is painted in pastel pink, white, and grey colored tempera. The man’s brow is slightly furrowed and his lips just parted as if he is about to speak. The painting uses an exaggerated sfumato technique, so the man is soft and hazy, rendered with loose brushwork and no sharp contours. Lines made with a sharp point have been incised into the wet paint and the artist’s charcoal underdrawing is visible in places.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1933.151
People
Domenico Beccafumi, Italian (Cortine in Valdibiena Montaperti, Italy 1486 - 1551 Siena, Italy)
Title
Head of Cincinnatus Turned Three-Quarters Right
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1529-1535
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Italy, Tuscany, Siena
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/298618

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Tempera (and/or oil), charcoal, and stylus, varnished overall, on paper
Dimensions
25 × 17.3 cm (9 13/16 × 6 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • watermark: No watermark was observed when examined by Craigen Bowen, 3/8/2002.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henry P. McIlhenny, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1933

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Henry P. McIlhenny, Class of 1933
Accession Year
1933
Object Number
1933.151
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Style and Technique: Their Interrelation in Western European Painting, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1936), no. 10, p. 20
  • Agnes Mongan and Paul J. Sachs, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1940), vol. 1, cat. no. 67, p. 54; vol. 2, repr. fig. 58
  • Donato Sanminiatelli, "The Sketches of Domenico Beccafumi", The Burlington Magazine (February 1955), vol. XCVII, no. 623, pp. 35-6 and under fn. 8, p. 35
  • Gertrude Rosenthal, Bacchiacca and his Friends; Florentine Paintings and Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD, 1961), no. 42, p. 51
  • Donato Sanminiatelli, Domenico Beccafumi, Bramante (Milan, Italy, 1967), p. 125, no. 9
  • Konrad Oberhuber, European Master Drawings of Six Centuries from the Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo, 1979), under cat. no. 12, n.p., fig. 15, repr.
  • L. C. J. Frerichs, Italiaanse Tekeningen II de 15de en 16de Eeuw, exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1981), under no. 32, p. 20
  • Agnes Mongan, Konrad Oberhuber, and Jonathan Bober, The Famous Italian Drawings at the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Silvana Editoriale (Milan, Italy, 1988), under cat. no. 28, n.p.
  • Domenico Beccafumi e il suo tempo, exh. cat., Electa (Milan, Italy, 1990), text cat. no. 120, p. 454; repr. no. 120, p. 455
  • Clio Jones, "Technical Study of Two Drawings by Domenico Beccafumi at the Fogg Art Museum" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, July 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-37 passim
  • Bert W. Meijer, ed., Italian Drawings from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1995), under no. 8, p. 97, and fn. 1, same page
  • Matthias Waschek, Marjorie B. Cohn, Judith Mann, and Stephan Wolohojian, Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, exh. cat., Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, 2008), no. 51, repr. pp. 34-35
  • An Exhibition of Master Drawings and Paintings, auct. cat., Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd. (London, 2010), under cat. no. 1

Exhibition History

  • Style and Technique: Their Interrelation in Western European Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/01/1936 - 12/31/1936
  • Bacchiacca and his Friends; Florentine Paintings and Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 01/10/1961 - 02/19/1961
  • Domenico Beccafumi e il suo tempo, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, 04/07/1990 - 07/31/1990
  • Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 10/24/2008 - 10/03/2009

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu