Lot 124: Attributed to Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (Parma 1500-1569)

Head of a young woman
with indistinct inscription (lower centre)
black chalk on discoloured blue paper
170 x 130mm

PROVENANCE:
Ugo Giardina, Alexandria, Egypt

In a letter to a former owner, attached to the back of the frame and dated 11th July 1950, Sir Kenneth Clark wrote that he saw a certain similarity in this drawing to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1467-1516). Although the 'sfumato' technique and the young woman's expression are certainly Leonardesque, the loose, broad use of chalk and the set of the head - most probably a study for the head of the Virgin - on a slightly elongated neck indicates an artist whose knowledge of Leonardo has been filtered through Correggio and Parmigianino. She closely resembles the Madonna types found in the work of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli; see for example, The Adoration of the Magi, Galleria Nazionale, Parma and Madonna and Child, formerly on the French art market (reproduced in Mario Di Giampaolo, Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli 1500-1569, Florence, 1997, pl. 24). Comparable drawings with a similar combination of swift curving lines and stumped black chalk are: Studies for the Virgin, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. 232 inf. 374 and Seated nude female figure, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, inv. D4890/12