J.D.Bohm (L. 1442 and L. 271); Dr Pokorny (L. 2036); Anonymous sale, Drouot, Paris, 17 June 1994, lot 28.

Related Readings: Negro E.& Pirondini M., La Scuola dei Carracci dall’Accademia alla Bottega di Ludovico, Ed. Artioli, Modena (1994); Negro E., Pietro Faccini: c1576-1602, Modena (c1997).

Good

According to the writings of Malvasia (1648), it is known that through 1588-89 Faccini was active as a merchant and he rumours “he attired himself nobly, treated himself well, lived in the grand manner, being able to live on his income when he took up painting”. On the advice of Annibale Carracci, Pietro Faccini gave up his career as a merchant and entered the Carracci Academy around 1589/90. However, they had a strong disagreement and by 1594, he formed his own rival academy opposite the Carracci’s .

The attribution of this striking small sheet of the head of a youth was confirmed by Hugo Chapman. It is based on the similarities between the drawing and the draughtsman’s technique in many of his graphic works, as for instance the Berlin Sketchbook in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin Staatliche Museen, Berlin, a drawing in the Louvre, Paris, of a Kneeling Youth , the Study for an Apostle in the British Museum, London , and a Head of a Youth in the Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Firenze. All these sheets are characterized by the same technique as the present drawing of the Head of a Young Man with the use of black chalk partially oiled in some areas and white chalk heightening on brown or grey blue buff paper. Moreover, this kind of technique mirrors the strong influence of Corregio’s works on the artist to which he was exposed during his apprenticeship with the Carracci in the mid 1580’s.

In addition to the technical similitude’s, the present sheet mirrors all the stylistic distinctiveness of Faccini, characterized by deliberate anatomical distortion and dramatic effects of light and shadow. Indeed, this unprecedented freedom of expression is illustrated here by the angle of the head, the search for expression in the undulations of the line such as the smile, the absence of interest to render exact details as for instance the hair of the youth. Whilst the figure in the British Museum sheet has short hair, here the draughtsman has drawn a head albeit with longer curly hair. Although the nose and the ear of the youth are more delineated than in the British Museum drawing, and its head slightly more tilted forward, the head on the present sheet is closely related to the head of the standing Apostle in the painting of the ‘Assumption of the Virgin’ in S. Maria dei Servi, Bologna. Interestingly, the draughtsman uses a similar head this time as that of Christ in a drawing in the Louvre, Paris , ‘Apparition of the Virgin and Christ to St Francis of Assise’.
Faccini’s reputation is based not only on his paintings but also on his abundant graphic production. His drawings are now scattered among drawing cabinets throughout Europe and were, from the outset, appreciated for their modern approach and skill. In a letter dated 7th April 1761, Francesco Algarotti wrote to the Abbot Gaspero Patriarchi “the works of Faccini, together with Giacomo Cavedone, are the best colourist of the Bolognese School.” Indeed, Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), whose drawing collection was one of the most important in France, if not in Europe, at the beginning of the eighteenth century owned over 50 drawings by Pietro Faccini.