AN IMPORTANT LATE 15TH CENTURY ITALIAN CARVED SANDSTONE BUST OF A BEARDED MAN, CIRCLE OF ANGELO DI GIOVANNI DA VERONA (ITALIAN, 1437-1508) the elderly sage with balding head, the back of his head carved with tight curls, his long beard terminating in two distinct sections and carved with scrolling ringlets, his eyes downcast and lips slightly parted, with furrowed brow, wearing a classical toga secured at his right shoulder, the back roughly hewn,  59cm high The distinctive tightly curled beard, expressive facial features and furrowed brow are all characteristics that are also visible in the carved stone figure of Saint Anthony Abbot in the Church of S. Lorenzo, Vicenza attributed to Angelo di Giovanni da Verona. The St Anthony is part of a carved stone relief featuring the Virgin and Child and Saint Sebastian, carved circa 1480. See Franco Barbieri, "Scultori a Vicenza dal XV al XVI Secolo, 1480-1520", Vicenza, 1984, p.18, pl. VIII, ill. 8.