Palma il Giovane
1544-1628
Self-Portrait at Age 58. Verso: Two Heads and a Left Hand Holding an Oval Object
1606
6 x 4 inches (152 x 99 mm)
Pen and brown ink, over red chalk, on paper; framing lines in brown and gray-brown ink; verso: pen and brown ink.
IV, 82:1
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Although the Venetian artist Palma Giovane was not primarily a portrait painter, his drawn self-portraits-like the drawings he made of his family and friends-were rendered with great immediacy and naturalism. This quick sketch, featuring Palma's characteristic short pen strokes, shows the artist with a faintly melancholic expression. The inscription records the date, 11 November 1606, and the artist's age, fifty-eight.- Exhibition Label, from "Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso."
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at upper center, in red chalk, "1606 11 novembre / jacobus palma", beneath this, in pen and brown ink, "etati ano / 58"; at upper left, in pen and brown ink, "P"; at lower left, in pen and brown ink, "AP (elided)"; on verso, at top, in pen and brown ink, "adi il 7 di febraro 1608 / cdia[....] a giulia ongia doi p[er] / spindia nelli servizi deli comisio[o superscript] / di crizia Sazolitti nel p[symbol] 20".
Watermark: Letters "A9"?
Watermark: Letters "A9"?
Associated names
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, fig. 170, repr.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department