Alternate Study for the Head of a Youth (Formerly a Pentimento Pasted to 1975.131.21). 17th century

Jacopo Confortini created this small drawing of a youth's head using pen and brown ink, with touches of red chalk. Confortini was working in Florence in the 17th century, a time when the legacies of the Renaissance were being reworked into the theatrical style we call the Baroque. But here, Confortini seems to be doing something different. There is an intimacy to this study, a sense of quiet observation rather than grand statement. The red chalk softens the lines, hinting at the vulnerability of youth. This gets to the nature of the sketch itself. The history of the drawing is also interesting; it was once pasted onto another drawing as a pentimento, or correction, and later removed. It is a fragment, a discarded idea given new life as an artwork in its own right. This second chance mirrors something of the human experience, the potential for change, adaptation, and growth.