Attributed to Bartolommeo Cesi Bologna 1556 - 1629

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche kunst in Nederlandsch bezit, 1934, cat. no. 516;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Italiaanse Tekeningen, 1970, cat. no. 84, reproduced p. 74, fig. 49 (as Annibale Caracci)

This very charming study seems closer to Cesi than to Annibale Caracci, to whom it was formerly attributed. It was perhaps intended for a wall decoration, as the figure is seen somewhat from below. Though it is not directly connected with the composition, there are certain resemblances with the music-making figures in the upper part of Cesi's triptych of The Adoration of the Magi, in the Bolgnese church of S. Domenico (see V. Fortunati Petrantonio, Pittura bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, reproduced p. 831).  A fine drawing by Cesi for that painting was sold, London, Sotheby's, 24 November 1976, lot 25.