Head of an Old Man (front); Bust of a Girl (back)

Palma il Giovane (Jacopo Negretti)

Download hi-res image TITLE Head of an Old Man (front); Bust of a Girl (back)
AUTHOR Palma il Giovane (Jacopo Negretti)
DATE c. 1588 – 9
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvasboard
TECNICA OPERA oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 38 x 28
INVENTORY 330
ROOM XIX
Work on display

This picture’s identification as the cartoon for two canvases which Palma il Giovane painted for the Oratorio dei Crociferi in Venice c. 1590 has allowed scholars to identify the sitter as Father Giuliano Cerno, the superior of the order’s convent at that date. When the cartoon was detached from the canvas onto which it had been glued, a portrait of a child (perhaps one of the painter’s daughters) rendered with rapid brush strokes was discovered on the back. This, like other works in Brera, comes from Cardinal Cesare Monti’s collection which was bequeathed to the Archbishopric in 1650.