Italian, mid-16th century | Cameo with a Portrait of a Young Man

This beautiful cameo of a young man appears to be derived from Roman Imperial portraiture. Specifically it relates to depictions of the Emperor Augustus and the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Compare the facial features and carving of an Italian, 16th-century cameo portrait of Augustus in the Beverley collection at Alnwick Castle (Scarisbrick, op. cit., no. 61). Further comparison can be made with other 16th-century portraits after the antique, including gems portraying Germanicus and Caligula in the Royal Collection (Aschengreen-Piacenti, op. cit., nos. 68 and 79). The deliberately carved, stylised curls of hair that appear so prominent in the present cameo are reminiscent of a series of mid 16th-century shell cameo portraits of Emperors in the Museo degli Argenti, Florence (Gennaioli, op. cit., nos. 182-185). Distinguished by its refinement of carving and the beauty of its subject, the present cameo evokes the idealised youths of Florentine Renaissance sculpture.

RELATED LITERATURE
R. Gennaioli, Le gemme dei Medici al Museo degli Argenti: Cammei e Intagli nelle collezioni di Palazzo Pitti, Florence and Milan, 2007; K. Aschengreen-Piacenti and J. Boardman, Ancient and Modern Gems and Jewels in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2008; D. Scarisbrick, C. Wagner and J. Boardman, The Beverley Collection of Gems at Alnwick Castle, London and New York, 2017