Lot 5: * CARLO CALIARI CALLED CARLETTO VENICE 1567/70 - 1592/96

STUDY OF THE TORSO AND HEAD OF A MAN LEANING TO THE LEFT, AND ANOTHER STUDY OF A SHOULDER

6 7/16 by 7 3/4 in.; 163 by 200mm

black and red chalk, heightened with white, on buff paper

From the so-called Sagredo-Borghese albums (though no longer laid down on the distinctive, inscribed backing)

This belongs to a stylistically consistent group of drawings, examples of which have often been associated with the name of Bassano, but which Terisio Pignatti, Roger Rearick and others have more recently attributed to Carletto Caliari. As Rearick has observed, a number of these were to be found within the ensemble of drawings attributed to the Bassano family in the Skippe Collection (see sale, London, Christie's, 21 November 1958, lots 17-33, "Drawings by the Bassano Family"), and others were given to Bassano on the basis of their having been inventoried under this name (B.B...) in the so-called Sagredo-Borghese albums, from which many, including this example, originated. Rearick also, however, noted that some nude studies from this group can be directly connected with securely attributed paintings by Carletto.