PIETRO TESTA, Self Portrait.

Etching. Ex-collection Franz Jozef von Enzenberg zum Freyen und Jochelsthurn (Lugt 845, verso). Testa (1611-1650) was among the most important Italian High Baroque artists. Born in Lucca, he spent much of his career in Rome and worked with Annibale Carracci and Nicolas Poussin. He is rumored to have fallen into the Tiber River and drowned, an untimely death at age 39, while he was observing and sketching a night sky.

circa 1645

225x166 mm; 8 7/8x6 1/2 inches, narrow to thread margins.

Bartsch 1.