Study of a Male Head

Author: Rosie Razzall

This double-sided drawing has a black chalk head of a man on the recto, and studies of architecture on the verso, with part of the legs of a horse outlined in pen and ink. The drawing was acquired by Koenigs as School of Michelangelo. Soon after, Berenson reverted to an earlier attribution,^[1] believing the drawing to be an autograph work by Signorelli. He had only seen the drawing in reproduction, and in her PhD thesis Van Cleave (1995) firmly rejected any connection with Signorelli (c.1445/1450-1523).^[2]

The combination of the black chalk head study and architectural elements certainly points to the circle of Michelangelo (see for example, autograph sheets that combine figures and architecture in Oxford).^[3] While the treatment of the head study is accomplished, the simplistic, child-like treatment of the horse’s legs on the verso demonstrate that the sheet has been worked on by various hands, as well as trimmed, presumably to preserve the head study as the more ably executed part of the sheet. Most puzzling of all is the correct orientation of the sheet, which has been debated by various scholars. The position of the collector’s stamps in the upper left corner of the recto demonstrates that several previous owners believed this to be the correct orientation,^[4] with the head looking upwards; perhaps a study for a figure lolling backwards in pain or desperation. Paul Joannides also believed this to be the correct position of the head.^[5] However, Albert Elen has noted that in that orientation the hatching runs from top left to bottom right, making the artist left-handed. If the drawing is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, the hatching runs the other way and would be by a more common, right-handed artist. The head in this position reads more clearly, with the light falling across the face from the left, but without identification of a related painting, it is difficult to know for certain which direction is intended.