An inscription on the back of this sheet states that this head was used by Palma in an altarpiece showing John the Baptist that was destined for a church in Serinalta (Palma?s home town) near Bergamo. No such painting survives. The drawing is in fact almost certainly a self-portrait, with the figure twisting his neck to peer into a mirror in order to capture his own reflection. The features are very similar to those of two probable painted self-portraits by Palma. In Palma?s portraits of other figures, the sitter is invariably presented to the viewer with his or her torso angled less sharply into the picture space.
Palma Vecchio (Jacopo Negretti) (Italian, 1480 - 1528)
Palma specialised in pictures that were destined for a domestic context, such as female beauties and reclining nudes, and scenes of Holy Families with Saints in a landscape. He also painted a number of altarpieces for churches in Venice, the Veneto and his native Lombardy. With Giorgione and Titian, Palma was one of the most innovative and original painters in early sixteenth-century Venice. His mature style did not undergo any significant changes, which makes most of his work difficult to date with any certainty. The nickname Palma Vecchio (Old Parma) was bestowed years after his death to distinguish him from his great-nephew Palma Giovane (Young Palma), who was working in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.
