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Lot description
(San Matteo della Decima 1728–1781 Ravenna) Head of a bearded man, oil on canvas, 48 x 33 cm, framed Provenance: Collection of Cavalier Federico Alzona, Bologna; Private European collection, since 1950 Exhibited: Bologna, Palazzo Comunale, Mostra del Settecento bolognese, 1935, cat. no. 29 (as Gaetano Gandolfi) Literature: G. Zucchini, R. Longhi (eds.), Mostra del Settecento bolognese, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 1935, p. 61, cat. no. 29 (as Gaetano Gandolfi); L. Bianchi, I Gandolfi, Rome 1936, mentioned p. 53, note 67, illustrated plate XX (as Ubaldo Gandolfi); R. Roli, Pittura bolognese 1650–1800. Dal Cignani ai Gandolfi, Bologna 1977, s. p., fig. 331c (as Ubaldo Gandolfi); D. Biagi Maino, Ubaldo Gandolfi, Milan 1990, p. 267, no. 89, fig. 154 (as Ubaldo Gandolfi) Ubaldo Gandolfi produced ‘teste di carattere’ during the late phase of his career, from the 1760s until the late 1770s, to which the present painting can be dated. These studies of heads were inspired by the work of Annibale Carracci (1560–1609). The present head of a bearded man depicts possibly a member of a religious order. He looks downwards, showing a high, furrowed brow. The hair and thick, unkempt beard are painted with vigorous brushwork, indicating the full maturity of the Bolognese painter’s style. When this work was included in the 1935 exhibition of Bolognese 18th century painting, curated by Roberto Longhi and Guido Zucchini, it was catalogued as a work by Gaetano Gandolfi (who was Ubaldo’s younger brother and pupil). The work was returned to Ubaldo by Lidia Bianchi 1936 (see op. cit. Bianchi, 1936, p. 53) when it was in the Bolognese collection of Federico Alzona. Donatella Biagi Maino endorsed the attribution to Ubaldo in her catalogue raisonné (see op. cit. Biagi Maino, 1990).