Man Holding a Banner

Traditionally identified as "a Man Holding a Banner" but as suggested by Marco Simone Bolzoni (2013, cat. 124) more likely a shepherd holding a staff, wearing a straw hat, as often seen in painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds; it does not, however, correspond to a known painting by the artist. Bolzoni suggests that the drawing may have been a rejected idea for Cesari's Adoration of the Shepherds of 1594 in S. Maria in Via, Rome, but he also notes that a similar figure appears in an early sketch (Louvre, Paris, inv 9732) for the artist's Finding of the She-Wolf fresco in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.
Watermark: none visible through lining.