Bartolomeo Passerotti

This impressive portrait is inspired by one of Bandinelli's many self-portraits, most likely the bas-relief inscribed and dated 1556 now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence, where the sculptor similarly portrays himself in profile (fig. 1).  Passerotti replaces the antique medal-like profile with a more naturalistic and contemporary description.  Bandinelli is wearing a cloak, closed by a clasp with the shell of the Order of Santiago.  He imbues the relief format with greater volume and physicality, suggesting a human form rather than a copy from a sculpted portrait.  Passerotti made a number of similar drawings, some with the likeness of other artists, notably the Head of Michelangelo in the British Museum (inv.no. 1859-9-15-1025).  Others in a similar style are: the drawing of Benedetto Varchi in the Victoria and Albert Museum,¹ and a  group of twelve heads of notable Bolognese men, from an album in a private collection in Lugano.²
Passerotti was a great admirer of Bandinelli and owned several drawings by the Florentine sculptor.  In fact many of Passerotti's drawings have in the past been believed to be the work of Bandinelli.  They share a similar use of the pen and often Passerotti, although much more realistic in his representation of people, achieves a sculptural effect.  Both artists must have shared the preoccupation, quite widespread in the sixteenth century, with the status and perception of artists in contemporary society and they both sought to elevate it through establishing their visual identity in self-portraiture.  Passerotti was well-known as a portrait painter and his work was much in demand, as portraits were a characteristic type of decoration of aristocratic palaces in the second half of the sixteenth century.  

1. Dyce 157; see Peter Ward-Jackson, Italian Drawings, Volume One, 14th -16th century, London 1979, pp. 129-20, no. 241, reproduced p.120
2. C. Höper, Bartolomeo Passarotti, 1529-1592, Worms 1987, II, pp. 147-150, Z. 152-63; for illustrations see Milan, Galleria Stanza del Borgo, Visi e Figure in Disegni Italiani e Stranieri dal Cinquecento all'Ottocento, 1970, pp. 22-41, nos. 10-21, reproduced