FRANS FLORIS THE ELDER | The head of a bearded man in a red hat

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 19 March 1975, lot 101, where acquired by the father of the present owner.

Frans Floris pioneered the creation of carefully observed head studies, painted from life, which he retained in his workshop to serve as models for future compositions. The present head appears as one of the crowd surrounding Christ in Floris' 1562 panel The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Bringing Together and Protecting Humanity in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.¹

¹ Inv. no. 20746; see V. Pomarède, The Louvre: All the Paintings, New York 2011, p. 246, reproduced.