Old Man with a Helmet, from the Raccolta di Teste

The Raccolta di Teste consists of sixty such plates of exotic and fantastic heads. The printmaker and collector Zanetti observed at the time, "if Rembrandt and Castiglione returned from the grave, they would kiss the person who made them." Indeed, Giandomenico's Teste represent one of the last great achievements of Italian Baroque etching. Most impressions come from the first published edition of 1773-74. Rich, uneven, and very individual in its inking, this is a rare proof, probably pulled by the artist himself.