Attributed to Johann Carl Loth Munich 1632 - 1698 Venice

E. Calando

The majority of the drawings associated with the name of Loth are rather more finished compositional studies, in which the underlying pen sketch is usually worked up with extensive white heightening.  There are, however, one or two published drawings of a more rapid, sketchy nature, such as the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, in Braunschweig, and the sketches of Jupiter and Hebe on the verso of a more typically worked up sheet in the Albertina, Vienna (see G. Ewald, Johann Carl Loth 1632-1698, Amsterdam 1965, cat. nos. Z25, and Z33a verso).  It is those drawings that provide the best evidence to support the traditional attribution of this fascinating ensemble of study sheets, which clearly represent an artist's early working "notes." Stylistically, these drawings certainly seem to be by a foreign artist active in Italy in the second half of the 17th century, and comparison with the general compositional and figure types, and also the specific details of physiognomy, seen in Loth's documented paintings and drawings further supports the attribution.  It is also interesting to note the one at least of the sheets has fragments of letters in both German and Italian on the verso.