After Giovanni Battista Piazzetta,  Italian 1682-1754- Head of an old man in a white skull cap and fur-trimmed coat; oil on panel, 35.7 x 26.3 cm., (unframed). Provenance:  Private Collection, UK. Note:  The present work relates to a chalk sketch by Piazzetta, held by the Royal Collection [RCIN 990758]. It was presumably directly copied from a mezzotint by Johann Lorenz Haid (1702-1750), published c.1730-1750, from a series of imaginary portrait heads after Piazzetta. Piazzetta produced a great number of these drawings of character heads, with one, two and sometimes three heads on the same sheet. His biographers (Albrizzi, 'Studij di pittura' and Dezalier d'Argenville) noted that it was through the sale of these drawings that he was able to sustain his family. Although  the models in some of these drawings have been identified (Piazzetta's wife, son and daughter appear several times), they are not intended as portraits of particular sitters. Instead they are often shown with apanying attributes, or with particular facial expressions, operating in the tradition of 'têtes d'expression'. Often the meaning of the attributes is not overt, but the drawings are enigmatic ruminations on age, beauty, innocence and other timeless themes.