Unknown Italian Faces by Unknown Italian Artists

Anonymous Italian Artist
Young Woman from the Campagna
19th century
oil on canvas
National Gallery, Athens

Anonymous Italian Artist
Veiled Nun
ca. 1863
marble
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Nobleman
ca. 1830-40
marble
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

Anonymous Venetian Artist
Head of a Man
ca. 1775
drawing
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

Anonymous Roman Artist
Portrait of a Cleric
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Young Man
17th century
drawing
Princeton University Art Museum

Anonymous Venetian Artist
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1560
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Nobleman
1556
terracotta
Milwaukee Art Museum

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1550
oil on panel
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Anonymous Florentine Artist
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1540
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Italian Artist
Three Heads
ca. 1540
drawing
Yale University Art Gallery

Anonymous Milanese Artist
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1530-40
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Anonymous Venetian Artist
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1515
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Anonymous Venetian Artist
Portrait Study of a Youth
ca. 1500
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Young Man
1472
oil on panel
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon

Anonymous Florentine Artist
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1430-50
tempera on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

 from The Island of Statues

Have I not seen a thousand seasons ebb and flow
The tide of stars? Have I not seen a thousand years
The summers fling their scents? Ah, subtle and slow,
The warmth of life is chilling, and the shadows grow
More dark beneath the poplars, where yon owl
Lies torn and rotting. The fierce kestrel birds
Slew thee, poor sibyl: comrade thou and I;
For ah, our lives were but two starry words
Shouted a moment 'tween the earth and sky.
Oh, death is horrible! and foul, foul, foul!                              

– W.B. Yeats (1885)