- Museum number
- 1895,0915.597
- Description
-
Head of a man with a short beard, to front, his head inclined slightly to right
Metalpoint (probably silverpoint), heightened with white, on cream prepared paper; outlines indented
- Production date
- 1496-1500 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 182 millimetres
-
Width: 125 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- A silverpoint study for another of the apostle heads is in the Bonna collection, Geneva (Strasser 2010, no. 4).
Lit.: J.C. Robinson, 'Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings by the Old Masters, forming the Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, Esq.', London, 1876, no. 160; A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, 'Italian drawings in the BM, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', London, 1950, I, no. 189, II, pl. CLXXI (with previous literature); N. Strasser, 'Dessins Italiens de la Renaissance au Siècle des Lumières, Collections Jean Bonna', Geneva, 2010, under no. 4
Popham & Pouncey 1950
In the Malcolm Catalogue as Perugino, but subsequently attributed to Lo Spagna. Fischel (loc. cit.) pointed out the fact that it is a study- what he calls a 'Hilfszeichnung' - for the head of the apostle on the extreme r. in the 'Ascension' at Lyons (K. der K. 50), painted for S. Pietro, Perugia, for which Perugino received payments, 1496-1500. The subject was repeated in all its details by Perugino for Sansepolcro (K. der K. 64); and most of the apostles occur again in the 'Assumption of the Virgin' of 1506 in SS. Annunziata, Florence (K. der K. 136).
Literature: JCR 160; B.M. Guide, 1895, no. 86; Fischel, Umbrer, p. 129, no. 63, fig. 131.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, Raphael and his Circle
1995 Jan-Mar, Southampton Gallery, 'Drawing the Line', no.155
1995 Mar-Apr, Manchester Gallery, 'Drawing the Line', no.155
2015 May-Jul, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
2015 10 Sep-6 Dec, London, British Museum, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.597
