The artwork, “Heads of an old man and a youth,” is attributed to the eminent High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, created circa 1495 during his time in Milan, Italy. This portrait genre drawing is crafted with chalk on paper and measures 20.8 by 15 centimeters. Presently, it is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
The artwork masterfully presents a juxtaposition of age and youth, displaying two heads in profile facing each other. On the left, there is an old man with deeply etched lines and wrinkles, a strong hawk-like nose, and a somewhat pronounced chin, his features marked by the passage of time. The detailed rendering of his furrowed brow and gaze conveys a sense of wisdom or perhaps contemplation. In contrast, on the right side is the head of a youth, characterized by his curly hair and the smoother, unlined skin common to the visage of the young. The young man’s profile is classical in nature, with a straight nose and softly delineated lips, exemplifying the idealistic beauty celebrated during the Renaissance. The hands depicted folding fabric at the bottom of the drawing suggest study for drapery, sketching the play of light and shadow on the folds, which implies that the work might have been a preparatory study for a larger composition.
Da Vinci’s adept use of shading and his meticulous attention to detail render the figures with a three-dimensional quality that was groundbreaking for his time, reflecting his ceaselessly inquisitive approach to the human form and his unparalleled skill in capturing the subtleties of human expression.
