Studies for the figures of Justice and another cardinal virtue (?), a head study of a bearded man in profile and other figure studies, pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on fine laid paper, 17,5 x 24,2 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, Germany.

The present fine pen drawing was presumably executed by a Bolognese artist of the middle of the 17th century. The hair appearing classical in the head studies at the upper margin of the sheet such as the tousled hair of the man in profile and the hair of the woman which is pinned up and her gaze directed half towards the onlooker recall similar pen drawings by Agostino Carracci (1557–1602). His drawings are based on studies by the Emilian painter Francesco Mazzola called Parmigianio (1503–1540) who was active in Bologna for a long time. The present drawing shows also the strong influence of the Bolognese artist Guido Reni (1576–1642) whose work was for a long time widely received in the 17th century even beyond the borders of Bologna. The seemingly slightly rhythmical lines of the drawing are comparable with many study sheets by Reni but also recall figure studies of Reni’s pupil Pier Francesco Cittadini, who had fled the plague from Milan to Bologna at the age of 20. Two comparable sketches of the artist are kept in the National Museum in Stockholm. Comp. P. Bjurström, C. Loisel and E. Pilliod, Italian Drawings, Florence, Siena, Modena, Bologna, Stockholm 2002, Nos. 1471 and 1472.