Lot Essay
This head does not occur in any of Cornelis van Haarlem's known paintings, but Pieter van Thiel points out that similar heads, both male and female, can be seen in The Fall of Lucifer (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) and The Fall of Ixion (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam) from circa 1588, alongside several other scenes of massacre and martyrdom from the following years. On this basis van Thiel proposes a dating for the present work of around 1588/92.