Etching, circa 1645. 225x166 mm; 8 7/8x6 1/2 inches, narrow to thread margins. Ex-collection Franz Jozef von Enzenberg zum Freyen und Jöchelsthurn (Lugt 845, verso). A very good impression of this scarce, early self portrait.
Testa (1611-1650) was among the most important Italian High Baroque printmakers and draughtsmen. Born in Lucca, he spent much of his career in Rome and worked with Annibale Carracci and Nicolas Poussin. Testa 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. Bartsch 1.
