Head of a Bearded Man 1360 - 1380

This is a drawing of a bearded man of unknown date and authorship, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. Likenesses of older men were common subjects for artists in early modern Europe. But what was the purpose of these drawings? In the Renaissance, there was growing interest in the idea of ‘genius,’ as a kind of divine gift. The bearded man was an established visual symbol of wisdom and maturity, qualities that were associated with artistic genius. Thinkers like Marsilio Ficino, who translated the works of Plato, connected artistic inspiration to a kind of divine madness. The image of the bearded man may be connected to the promotion of the artist as an intellectual figure, someone touched by divine inspiration. To understand this drawing more fully, we can look at similar images, read artists’ biographies, and study the writings of Renaissance thinkers. In this way, we can better understand the social role of art and artists in history.