Bust of a Crying Child

When Pierpont Morgan purchased this bust in 1909 from the Canessa Brothers, a trio of Naples-based dealers who sold works in Paris, it was believed to be the work of Michelangelo. It's actually a cast after a marble bust of a weeping child by the early 17th century Dutch sculptor Hendrick de Keyser, now in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. By 1775, the marble was in the Danish Kunstkammer, which was founded in 1650 by King Frederick III. The cabinet was dissolved and work sent to separate museums in 1825. Thus, it is assumed this cast might date to the late 17th or 18th centuries. The Canessas acquired the bust from the Italian collector and dealer Michele Lazzaroni, who styled himself a baron. Recent scholarship has revealed the extent to which Lazzaroni's stock consisted of creative restorations.