Head of a Youth 

Here we see Alessandro Allori’s “Head of a Youth,” an evocative drawing rendered in sanguine. The turban wrapped around the youth’s head immediately draws the eye, acting as a potent symbol of the exotic and the other. This motif of the turban can be traced back through art history, appearing in various guises, from religious figures in early Christian art to exoticized characters in Renaissance paintings. The turban, often associated with the East, carries with it a complex history of cultural exchange and representation. In Allori’s time, it may have been a way to evoke a sense of the foreign, mysterious, or even dangerous, appealing to a collective fascination. The enduring power of this symbol is the non-linear journey it undertakes through history, resurfacing, evolving, and acquiring new layers of meaning, yet always resonating with deep-seated cultural memories and subconscious associations.