Joseph Lindon Smith (Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 1863 - 1950, Dublin, New Hampshire)
Head of a Putti, 1894
Watercolor on paper , 47.5 x 34.8 cm (18 11/16 x 13 11/16 in.)
This vertical watercolor on paper by the artist Joseph Lindon Smith shows a portrait of a putto, or cherub copied from a tomb. The colors used on the putto are pale grays and greens with muted orange. We only see the head and neck, in profile facing to our left. The subject has a slender neck, curly hair, turned up nose and closed lips. The pupil-less eye looks straight ahead. The background is white, with an area of grayish orange directly behind the image. There is an inscription in gothic letters on the lower right.
Blue Room
Commentary
Joseph Lindon Smith made this study after one of the putti on the Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini at Santa Croce in Florence by Desiderio da Settignano exceuted between 1453-1461.