Watermark: none visible through lining.
Although best known as a sculptor and architect, Bernini was also a gifted caricaturist. This sketch, drawn rapidly and with utmost economy, reveals the artist's great sense of humor and gift of clinical observation. The identity of the cavalier is not known, but his exaggerated features must have been immediately recognizable to those in Bernini's circle. The sheet has the distinctive pattern of folds used in early letters, and the drawing was presumably sent to a friend. -- Exhibition Label, from "Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso."
Scholz, János, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 177.
Scholz, Janos. Italian Master Drawings, 1350-1800, from the János Scholz Collection. New York : Dover, 1976, no. 89, repr.