The J. Paul Getty Museum

Portrait of a Young Man

Object Details

Title:

Portrait of a Young Man

Artist/Maker:

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598 - 1680)

Culture:

Italian

Date:

1630

Medium:

Red and white chalk

Object Number:

82.GB.137

Dimensions:

33.2 × 21.9 cm (13 1/16 × 8 5/8 in.)

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Object Description

Unlike Gian Lorenzo Bernini's usual polished portraits, this study of an unidentified man is a free, spontaneous characterization. Bernini drew the young man with great liveliness, ease, and even looseness, especially in the shirt collar. By depicting the man gazing directly out with boldness and animation, Bernini created an active exchange between sitter and viewer, just as he did in his sculpture.

Bernini rarely used red chalk without black. Here he added small amounts of white chalk, giving luminosity and greater substance to the image as if the nose, lips, chin, and collar were reflecting a natural light source.

Provenance
Provenance
1982

Private Collection (Paris, France), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1982.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Dessins du XVIe et du XVIIe s. dans le collections privées françaises (December 1971)
  • Claude Aubry (Paris), December to December 1971
Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections (March 10 to May 19, 1985)
  • The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota), December 7, 1984 to February 3, 1985
  • Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford), March 20 to May 20, 1985
Drawings from the J. Paul Getty Museum (May 24 to August 8, 1993)
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), May 24 to August 8, 1993
Drawings from the J. Paul Getty Museum (October 29, 1993 to January 23, 1994)
  • Royal Academy of Arts (London), October 29, 1993 to January 23, 1994
Portrait Drawings 1500-1900 (January 30 to May 12, 1996)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu), January 30 to May 12, 1996
Red Chalk Drawings (March 16 to May 30, 1999)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 16 to May 30, 1999
Posing for Posterity: Portrait Drawings from the Collection (October 30, 2001 to January 20, 2002)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), October 30, 2001 to January 20, 2002
Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture (August 5 to March 8, 2009)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), August 5 to October 26, 2008
  • National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), November 28, 2008 to March 8, 2009
The Poetry of Paper (July 23 to October 20, 2013)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), July 23 to October 20, 2013