Head of a Man in Three-quarters Profile to the Left

The leading painter of the second generation of great Roman baroque artists, Maratta developed a calmer and more restrained style than most of his predecessors, as this example illustrates. The drawing, presumably made from life, closely resembles the rendering of the head of a bystander in Maratta's altarpiece, "The Death of Saint Francis Xavier", found in the church of the Gesù in Rome.