Virgin and Child with Infant St. John the Baptist and Female Saint

This pen and brown ink drawing with brown wash and black chalk was formerly attributed to Parmigianino (1503-1540), who emerged under the influence of his Emilian compatriot, Correggio (1490-1534). Parmigianino was a prolific draughtsman; roughly a thousand drawings have been attributed to him (Ekserdjian 1999). The Virgin and Child are depicted on the present sheet, flanked by St. John the Baptist and a saint. Although passages such as the hair of the figures point to Parmigianino, the overall handling of areas like the transitions between light and shadow are not nuanced enough to merit an attribution to the artist. David Ekserdjian affirmed that the drawing is not by Parmigianino (email correspondence, August 2012). He has suggested it is by Bernardino India (c. 1528 or 1535-1590) who worked primarily in the Veneto on paintings for the domestic interior; however, he also worked occasionally on religious subjects.