Study of the Head of an Old Man in Profile

Accompanying Andrea’s many drawings from live models are his studies after antique sculpture like that after the Laocoön and this sheet after a bust of Homer, which prepares a figure in The Tribute to Caesar. Infusing the head with the vivacity of a living being, Andrea retains a glimmer of reflected light under the eye that hints at the physical quality of his stone source. The drawing of the draped young man also prepares a figure in the Tribute, though the youthful face is probably that of a garzone and becomes a more mature character in the painting.