After a model by Desiderio da Settignano. (1430-1464)
Head of a Young Boy.
- Inv. ЗС-459
- Bronze
- 25 х 25 cm.
- Conservator: M. Tulubensky, 2019
This small bronze bust of a child, typologically close to a number of popular in the 15th century marble images of the Infant Christ and St. John the Baptist, entered the museums of Berlin in 1903, from the collection of Princess Victoria, the widow of Kaiser Frederick III. Having published it shortly before the acquisition, Wilhelm von Bode was convinced that the author of the sculpture was the famous Florentine sculptor Antonio Rossellino (circa 1427-1478), and believed, therefore, that the bust was his only remaining work in bronze. However, the technical features of the casting do not allow the work to be attributed to the Renaissance. Unfortunately, as the Italian scholar Francesco Negri Arnoldi discovered in 1967, the bronze version is just a careless copy from the marble original, which is attributed to Desiderio da Settignano (ca. 1428-1464), now in the Getty Museum, USA.
Conservation
The metal composition was determined. The surface was cleaned and consolidated.