Study Head of a Bearded Man

c. 1565

Frans Floris, I (Netherlandish, by 1520–1570)

In the upper-left corner of this painting, just barely visible against the black background, a monogram reading FFF identifies the artist as Frans Floris, who operated a large and influential workshop in Antwerp. This panel served as a head study (possibly of Hercules), a technique Floris often used to work through expressions and characters for finished compositions. His practice anticipated the tronie—Dutch for “head”—studies popular in the 17th century among artists such as Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens.

Status: On View, Gallery 208
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Frans Floris, I
Title: Study Head of a Bearded Man
Place: Flanders (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1560–1570
Medium: Oil on panel
Inscriptions: Inscribed upper left: FFF
Dimensions: 46.5 × 33.6 cm (18 5/16 × 13 1/4 in.); Framed: 71.2 × 58.5 × 6.4 cm (28 × 23 × 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader
Reference Number: 1990.557
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/93372/manifest.json

Giorgio T. Faggin, La pittura ad Anversa nel Cinquecento (Florence, 1968), p. 49, fig. 125.
Carl van de Velde, Frans Floris (1519/20–1570): Leven en Werken (Brussels, 1975), pp. 234–35, no. 87, fig. 36.
Art Insitute of Chicago Annual Report 1990-91 (1991), 19, 43 (ill.).
Guy Bauman and Walter A. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America, (Antwerp, 1992), p. 335, no. 236 (ill.).

Hans Jüngeling, The Hague, by 1961 [according to van de Velde 1975, pp. 234–35; and conversation of Martha Wolff with Alfred Bader, May 24, 2001]; sold to Alfred Bader, Milwaukee, 1964; sold, Christie’s, New York, May 31, 1990, lot 32; bought by the Art Institute of Chicago with funds given by Alfred and Isabel Bader, 1990

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.