Jacopo Negretti, called Palma the Younger (1544 - 1628) Portrait of a Young Bearded Man Oil on canvas 41.3 x 29.7 cm Other inscriptions: on the verso of the frame, in pencil a barely legible indication 'ho t, l. 29 ya Carsu 162' (?) Inscriptions: on the verso of the frame, in black felt-tip pen, 'LK 58'. Bibliography: D.S. Pepper, "Annibale Carracci's Venetian Portraits", in "Arte documento", XIII, 1999, pp. 200 and 203 (ill. fig. 8) Conservation status. Support: 80% (reintelo) Conservation status. Surface: 85% (some paint loss and retouches of different periods in the left side of the face, in the background, on the collar and forehead, as well as, on the left, between the eye and temple, and on the right and lower margins; reduced wear of the paint material, for example in the eye on the left) In 16th century Veneto production, portraiture assumed a significant and socially distinguishing role. Great masters such as Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese devoted themselves to it, and the spread of this pictorial genre soon became enormous. The collocation of our painting has long been debated due to its quality and ability to recall illustrious models even far away, from Venice to Emilia, finally arriving at the persuasive restitution to the corpus of Palma il Giovane. The work was published by Pepper in 1999 as 'Portrait oil sketch of a bearded man', together with two similar portraits, all attributed to Annibale Carracci: 'We now turn to three portraits that I believe illustrate Annibale's deepening fascination with Titian. Malvasia reports that Annibale had painted a copy of Titian's St. Peter Martyr to learn directly from the master. The three portraits presented here (figs. 7, 8, 9) shared the saturated colours of Titian's palette, the free brush work of Annibale's Venetian manner, nd the gaze of the subject directed towards the observer noted in Palazzo Pitti painting. In all three we find the spontaneity and vivacity we have come to expect in Annibale's portraits'. It is remarkable that Pepper himself, in examining the attributional history of the portraits in publication, remarks as "typical" the competing attributions to Palma il Giovane, Leandro Bassano and Domenico Tintoretto (Pepper 1999, p. 200). (... read more: complete catalogue entry in the pdf catalogue at https://goforarts.com/doc/VB_IT_2_2/Meraviglie_Atto_II_HR.pdf . The catalogue also includes lots not available on online platforms, including many of the most prestigious).