Saint John the Baptist (Main View)

An intense expression and energetically rendered hair, beard, and pelt animate this vigorous study of a male head. This frowning man's prominent cheekbone and pronounced lines around the mouth emphasize the life implied by his parted lips, free-flowing hair, and focused gaze. Giovanni Agostino da Lodi's insistent diagonal hatching also enlivens the depiction. Such interest in physiognomy, combined with the curls and fur, which almost take on a life of their own, and the red-chalk technique indicate a close knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. Da Lodi may have made this drawing as one of a series of physiognomic studies in response to similar drawings by Leonardo. In the depiction of the hair, this drawing displays a sfumato shared by Leonardo's Caricature of a Man with Bushy Hair, also in the Getty Museum. Almost all of Lodi's known drawings are red chalk studies of heads.