Head of a bearded old man

Published in his 2009 monograph on the artist, this large-scale head of a bearded old man by Baciccio is dated by Francesco Petrucci to circa 1685. It was probably intended as a study for a figure in a mural, most likely an apostle, or perhaps a biblical patriarch or a hermit saint. The canvas may be identifiable with one of the large heads of apostles recorded in Giulio Gauli’s 1761 inventory, and mentioned again five years later in his inventory of 1776 (M. Fagiolo dell’Arco and R. Pantanella, op. cit., pp. 113, 114, 119). However, it could also be identifiable with two prophets painted for the dome of Saint Peter's listed in the 1761 inventory (M. Fagiolo dell’Arco and R. Pantanella, op. cit., p. 115). It is, therefore, possible that the present canvas was conceived as part of a design for vestibule in the Cappella del Battesimo in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome.