Portrait of a Man Looking Down

Author: Gert Jan van der Sman

Franz Koenigs acquired this rare example of a portrait study in silverpoint, black chalk and different shades of bodycolour in 1929 as a work by Pietro Perugino (c.1446-1523). In the decade that followed, Bernard Berenson listed the drawing in his reference work on the drawings by Florentine Renaissance artists under the name of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483-1561). Other authors did the same. More recently, few if any specialists paid attention to the drawing, with the exception of William Griswold, who rightly rejected the attribution to Ghirlandaio.^[1] The drawings that can be securely attributed to Ridolfo are all very different in terms of materials and technique: they were all executed in pen and brown ink in a rather nervous hand. To date, moreover, there are no known portrait drawings by Ridolfo. Lastly, chiaroscuro is an important feature of the portraits Ridolfo painted, which is not the case in the Rotterdam drawing.^[2]

As far as drawing technique and style are concerned, the Rotterdam portrait study sits firmly in the fifteenth-century tradition. The way the face is built up using fine hatching in various shades of bodycolour is very reminiscent of painted portraits like those made in the workshop of Domenico (1449-1494) and Davide Ghirlandaio (1452-1525) between around 1480 and 1495. The Portrait of Selvaggia Sassetti, in which such hatching is very clear, is a good example for comparison.^[3] In view of the left-handed use of the brush, the portrait is nowadays often attributed to Davide. There is no evidence of the use of the left hand in the Rotterdam drawing. For this reason, the indication ‘workshop or follower of Domenico Ghirlandaio’ is retained. 

The purpose of this drawing is unclear. The sitter’s eyes are almost closed, giving the impression that he is looking down. It is therefore unlikely that this is a study for a single portrait on panel. According to Berenson (1938), the drawing was based on a death mask, but it is equally possible that it is a detail study for a large composition.^[4] The drawing’s attraction lies above all in the natural look that the artist has achieved, combined with his skill in lending the subject a serious, introverted expression. He has used his tools thoughtfully and with restraint: black chalk sufficed for the grey hair, while the face was worked out in brush and bodycolour with a great sense of tonality and texture. The pink colour accents at the places where the old man’s skin is thinnest, particularly the cheeks and eyelids, are very refined. Details like this, the result of careful observation, bring the sitter closer to the viewer.