Portrait Head of a Man 1800 - 1900

Oresto Caldini made this charcoal drawing, Portrait Head of a Man, in 1903. The drawing’s inscription tells us it was a study drawn from life by Caldini at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, a major centre for artistic training in Italy. Here, the artist has presented the sitter as a man of some importance, his piercing eyes and furrowed brow lending him a stern and serious air. We see the figure from just below the shoulders, in a suit, and it is the sitter’s head that draws our attention, achieved by the artist’s striking use of chiaroscuro, the contrast between light and dark. But for whom was this image made? Was it a preparatory sketch for a larger history painting? Was it simply an exercise completed by Caldini to demonstrate his skill in capturing likeness and character? These are some of the questions art historians ask, questions which can only be answered through detailed archival research and a deep knowledge of the social and institutional contexts in which art is made.