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This plaster cast captures a man’s long face, bumped, broad nose, and thin-set lips. The man’s deep-set eyes are closed under a low brow. He has high cheekbones and a square jaw. Texture around his mouth and on his jaw suggests stubble or facial hair.

Italian 20th Century

Death Mask of Lorenzo de' Medici (modern aftercast), 1996

Not on View

Medium

plaster

Credit Line

Gift of Soprintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici per le province di Firenze, Pistoia e Prato

Accession Number

1998.61.1

Artists / Makers

Italian 20th Century (caster)

Image Use

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Provenance

Cast 1996 by conservators from the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence;[1] gift 1996 to NGA.[2]

[1] The cast was made from a stucco death mask of Lorenzo de' Medici, which may date from 1492. That mask is owned by the Società Colombaria, Florence, and is currently (1998) on deposit at the Museo degli Argenti in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. The plaster cast was made for the NGA, and donated for use in studying particularly the NGA's bust of Lorenzo (1943.9.92), in conjunction with a curatorial colloquy held July 1996 on the NGA's Medici busts. A thorough study of the death mask is in the 1993 brochure published by the Soprintendenza per i beni artistici e storici per le province di Firenze e Pistoia, titled La Maschera di Lorenzo il Magnifico: Vicende e iconografia, with text by Maria Sframeli, and The Renaissance Portrait, from Donatello to Bellini, Exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, no. 56 (copies in NGA curatorial files).

[2] The gift to the Special Collection was reported to the Board of Trustees in 1998.

Associated Names

Museo degli Argenti