Two Horses' Heads

While in the collection of Johann Török, and at the time of his 1928 sale, the sheet was assigned to the circle of Leonardo da Vinci.¹ More recently, Paul Joannides ascribed the drawing to Giorgio Vasari, adding that it reveals the influence of Vasari’s friend Francesco Salviati (unpublished opinion recorded in the curatorial file, 2004). Alternatively, Joannides suggested a possible attribution to Francesco Morandini, called il Poppi. Both Vasari ² and Poppi³ made comparable studies of horse heads seen from multiple angles, although these were executed in black chalk.

Footnotes:

1. Vienna 1927, 3, no. 2 (as school of Leonardo da Vinci); American Art Association, New York 1928, lot 154 (as atelier of Leonardo da Vinci).
2. Louvre, Paris, inv. 2757; Härb 2015, 469, no. 301.
3. Uffizi, Florence, inv. 4283F, 4284F; Comune di Poppi 1991, 148-49, nos. 91, 92.