Inscribed on album page, at center, above drawing, in pen and brown ink, "172"; in the same hand, at center, beneath drawing, in pen and brown ink, "di Francesco Bricio"; next to this, in graphite, "No. 21".
The remnants of an album page onto which the drawing is laid down bears an old attribution to Francesco Brizio (ca. 1574 –1623) but by the time the drawing entered the collection it was given to an unknown artist of the Emilian or Bolognese school. It perhaps dates from the sixteenth century rather than later; it probably was created by a provincial hand. As Paul Joannides noted, the figure bears some resemblance, in reverse, to the statue of Minerva in the background of Raphael’s fresco The School of Athens in the Vatican of ca. 1509-1511.
The drawing once formed part of the same album as the study of a nude female now attributed to Tamagni, also formerly given to Brizio (no.1993.227).
Watermark: none visible through lining.
Formerly attributed to Francesco Brizio, Bologna ca. 1574 -1623 Bologna.
Brizio, Francesco, approximately 1574-1623, Formerly attributed to.
Warwick, George Guy Greville, Earl of, 1818-1893, former owner.
Hollstein-Rathau, Sophie von, Countess, former owner.
Calmann, Hans M., 1899-1982, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.