Self-Portrait

Gaetano Sabbatini created the self-portrait in the center medallion in his final years. Wearing a turban, he holds his palette and brushes in his left hand while resting his right hand on his maulstick. Sabatini's application of chalk ranges from crisp lines for contours and accents to soft modeling for his face and sleeve. His variety enhances the sensuous quality of the black chalk, giving the viewer a strong sense of its texture and feel.

Gaspare Redi, a copyist and mount-maker, created the ornamental frame, or cartouche. Florentine nobleman Francesco Maria Niccolò Gabburri, who assembled a large series of drawn portraits and self-portraits of artists, hired them both. Gabburri probably requested that Sabatini use the oval format, which he preferred for his collection. The tradition of collectors using ornamental frames to set off their drawings began with Giorgio Vasari. Unlike Vasari, who decorated a separate sheet to use as his mount, Redi used the same paper as Sabbatini, allowing for a better integration of image and the surrounding decorative frame.