Attributed to Giovan Battista Lombardelli, called della Marca Montenuovo 1532 - 1587 Perugia

Valerius Röver (L.2984c, his numbering in pen and brown ink:  38 and 21 and his attribution:  Gio Batt:^a della Marca); in his inventory as Giovanni Battista della Marca, portfolio 38, no. 21;
Jhr. Johann Goll van Franckenstein (L.2987, his numbering in red ink on the verso: N 3252)

This very interesting double-sided sheet bears a contemporary attribution to Giovanni Battista della Marca on the verso, and on the recto, in another hand, what appears to be a date: 1568.  Both sides of the drawing can be related to the work of Taddeo Zuccaro, who died in 1566.
The recto is based on Taddeo's drawing now in the Louvre, which is a final study for his fresco in Santa Maria dell' Orto, Rome (see J. A. Gere, Taddeo Zuccaro, London 1969, p. 191, no. 180).  On the verso of the present drawing there are studies for two different compositions: Apollo and the Muses and two female allegorical figures, both of which are stylistically close to Taddeo.  The Parnassus most probably recalls a lost drawing by Taddeo for his fresco of the subject once in the Casino del Bufalo (see Gere, op.cit., pl. 109).

The decoration of Palazzo del Bufalo for Stefano del Bufalo must have been executed around 1559-60, at the same moment as the fresco in Santa Maria dell' Orto.  Another drawing by Taddeo in the Louvre has, on the recto, a group of four Muses connected with the decoration of the Casino del Bufalo and, on the verso, a study for the Madonna and Child and the Angels for the Flight into Egypt in Santa Maria dell' Orto (see Gere, op.cit., pls. 110 and 111).  The two allegorical figures on the present sheet are also very probably after a lost Taddeo drawing, but cannot be connected to any of his surviving works. 

Lombardelli drawings are rare.  Even when working on his own compositions, he reveals the strong influence of the Zuccari.  His activity in Rome and the teaching of Raffaellino da Reggio must have brought him into very close contact with the work of both brothers.  For drawings by Lombardelli, see I Grandi Disegni Italiani del Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe di Roma, Milan, n.d., no. 30 and Jacob Bean, 15th and 16th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1982, nos. 119 and 120.