FLORENTINE SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY | Madonna and Child, after Fra' Bartolommeo

Bears unidentified collector's mark (L.4700, associated in the past with the collection of Nicholas Lanier);
William Young Ottley (1771-1836), London (engraved in the Italian school of Design); 
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), London (L.2445);
from whose estate acquired by Samuel Woodburn (Seventh Woodburn/Lawrence exhibition, 1836, no. 68, as Fra Bartolommeo);
From whom acquired in February 1838 by Prince William of Orange, later King William II of the Netherlands (1792-1849),
his sale, The Hague, de Vries/Roos/Brondgeest, 12-20 August 1850, lot 221 (as 'BARTHOLOMEO. (Attribué à)', bought back for the family by Brondgeest), 
by inheritance to the present owner

London, S. & A. Woodburn, The Lawrence Gallery. Seventh Exhibition. A Catalogue of One Hundred Original Drawings by Zucchero, Andrea del Sarto, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and Fra Bartolomeo., 1836, p. 23, no. 68 (as Fra Bartolomeo: 'THE VIRGIN, WITH THE INFANT CHRIST IN HER ARMS - whole length figure; in red chalk: highly finished. Engraved in the school of design. Size, 12 inches by 7 inches. From the Collections of Sir Jacob Astley and W.Y. Ottley, Esq.')

Hinged to mount at upper margin. Light scattered foxing throughout the sheet. Surface dirt. Tip of the lower left corner is missing. Red chalk still strong throughout. Sold mounted but unframed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This sixteenth century drawing seems to be after another, lost drawing, itself copying the central section of Fra' Bartolommeo's altarpiece, Madonna and Child and six Saints, commissioned by Pietro Cambi for the church of San Marco in Florence, and still in situ.  In 1823, the present drawing was engraved and published by William Young Ottley, who owned it at the time, as part of his Italian school of Design: a series of fac-similes of Original Drawings..... This publication was part of an ambitious project organized by the enterprising connoisseur and collector, to produce facsimile reproductions engraved from the drawings in his collection, accompanied by a critical commentary.  The volume was highly regarded by his contemporaries for its refined quality, and for the range and variety of techniques used by the different engravers to imitate the media of each drawing.  Ottley, who believed the drawing to be the work of Fra' Bartolommeo, wrote in his text facing the plate (p. 23) that it 'is evidently a later performance, and appears to be a study for the centre of one of his large altar-pieces. The figure of the Virgin is simple and dignified, and the Infant has a sweetness, and at the same time a playfulness, of expression, which it is creditable to the engraver to have so well imitated.'