Lot 24: Andrea Boscoli (Florence 1560-1608)

A bullock in profile to the left, another beyond
with inscription 'Berghem' (verso)
red and black chalk, watermark encircled bird
6 x 6 3/4 in. (151 x 170 mm.)

Dr Julian Brooks has kindly confirmed the attribution to Boscoli on studying the drawing in the original, suggesting a date in the 1580s. This is one of a small number of drawings by Boscoli in which he experiments with the strong chiaroscuro effects of red chalk set against an enveloping blue-black chalk background. Two other studies of animals from the series are known, a Horse seen from behind formerly with Katrin Bellinger, Munich, 1991, and a Dromedary in the Uffizi (inv. no. 826 ORN, and a counterproof of the same, inv. no. 825 ORN). The majority of the group are studies of heads and nude youths, for example Study of the head and hands of a youth in the Uffizi (S. Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, The Golden Age of Florentine Drawing, exhib. cat., Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, and elsewhere, 1994, no. 47).