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Middle-aged man with curly hair (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1590-1610

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1620

Medium

black and red chalk with stumping on laid paper, laid down, the backing sheet carrying a graphite and pen and grey ink architectural drawing, executed using a ruler and compass

Dimensions

Height: 41.5 cm
Width: 26.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1947.LF.142

Mode of Acquisition

Arthur Hamilton Lee, bequest, 1947

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

wrinkles

Label Text

This powerfully realised portrait of an older man, his penetrating gaze and every wrinkle rendered with meticulous detail, is a striking example of French portraiture outside a courtly milieu. Neither the sitter nor the artist is known. According to inscriptions by the famous collector Abbé de Marolles (1600-1681), ‘Lagneau’ is the name ascribed to many such drawings, most of which depict sitters whose costumes denote humble backgrounds, notable for their skilful rendering of skin with red and black chalks.

Provenance

Martinengo family, Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, Venice, by 1926; purchased there by Viscount Lee of Fareham (1868-1947), 1930; Lee Bequest 1947

Exhibition History

The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt, National Portrait Gallery, London, 13/07/2017-22/10/2017

Special Display - French Portraits, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2013-02/09/2013

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 04/07/1991-06/10/1991

Literature

Tarnya Cooper, The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt, National Portrait Gallery 2017
no. 46
illus. p. 168

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 32, p. 74
illus. p. 75

From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawings from the seventeenth century, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, 1989
pp. 103-04 ...More

Adhémat, Jean, 'Les portraits dessinés du XIVe siècle au Cabinet des Estampes, deuxième partie' in 'Gazette des Beaux-Arts', 1973; LXXXII, 1259
pp. 341-50

Lorenzetti, G., Venezia e il suo Estuario: guido storia-artistica, Rome 1926
p. 410 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermarks: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: lower half of a large shield containing a fleur-de-lis, below are letters, possible “L” and “C” or “G”. Backing sheet, centre: ornamental design? Difficult to see clearly due to layers of paper.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: none.

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