DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO
(b. ca. 1428, Settignano, d. 1464, Firenze)

A Little Boy

c. 1460
Marble, height 26 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

There exists a number of heads of boys attributed to Desiderio and his circle, but the exact subject of these works is not known. This bust of an infant, without any attributes to identify him as a religious figure, may have been created as a portrait of an actual child.

This small head is from the Andrew W. Mellon Collection.