Description: Inscribed in pen and brown ink at lower right: Cabinet de Crozat. Numbered 10. Inscribed on the old mount: Gio. Benedetto Castilione genouese fatto de se' medemo. Numbered 1410. (Sparre)

The drawing has been thoroughly studied by Anna Percy who writes, "the faint blocking lines suggest that it is a preparatory study for the painting in storage at Palazzo Pitti, to which it is quite similar except for the wreath surrounding the bust. However, the painting is too much damaged to attribute it certainly to Castiglione's own hand. Neither the apparent age of the subject nor the style of the drawing offers a secure basis for dating the work. The composition is similar to the stucco portrait medallion in the cathedral in Mantua, which accompanies a commemoratory inscription to Castiglione, in that it shows a bust-length figure in profile wearing a skullcap and broad collar, surrounded by a wreath. But the variation in pose, with the head turned a bit further toward the spectator and the inclusion of a palette and brushes not shown in the medallion indicate that this drawing was not a design for the medallion, although it is possible that the medallion was adepted from the drawing, with modifications.  [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 364]

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Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione | Självporträtt | Nationalmuseum