(Fossano 1636-1688 Neapel)
Study of a female allegorical figure or saint (recto), studies of putti (verso), inscribed "Agostino Caracci" in pen and brown ink and "Lanfranco" in pen and brown ink on the verso, black chalk on laid paper, 25 x 19,8 cm, browned, stained, wrinkles, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome.

The present study of a female figure may have been drawn in preparation of a ceiling fresco or the decoration in a spandrel. The figure cannot be explicitly connected with a fresco by Beinaschi; possibly the sketch may be related to the frescos in the oratory of the Chiesa dei Girolamini in Naples (after 1681; compare V. Pacelli / F. Petrucci, Giovan Battista Beinaschi. Pittore barocco tra Romea e Napoli, Rome 2011, pp. 179-182, fig. 225-236, Cat. A 31). The frescos in the lunettes of the church’s nave show representations of twelve saints with their attributes and surrounded by putti. The figures are rendered in a view from below. The pose and the head posture of the figure resemble the depiction of Saint Ann in one of the lunettes of the oratory, but the figure may also have been executed in connection with another composition.

The attribution to Giovan Battista Beinaschi was confirmed by Prof. Francesco Petrucci on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.