Attributed to Leendert van der Cooghen Haarlem 1632 - 1681

Although formerly attributed to Cornelis Bega, this confident figure study fits much better with the drawing style of Bega's fellow Haarlem artist, Leendert van der Cooghen, as recently defined by Baukje Coenen (see Baukje J.L. Coenen, 'The Drawings of the Haarlem Amateur Leendert van der Cooghen', Master Drawings, XLIII, no. 1 (Spring 2005), pp. 5-90).  There are, of course, close similarities between the drawings of these two artists, as well as certain Haarlem contemporaries such as Berckheyde, but the combination of the use of black and white chalk on blue paper, the distinctive fine hatching, and the characteristic formation of the facial features points to van der Cooghen as the author; amongst the most comparable works are a study of the head of a girl, in Berlin, and the Young Man Kneeling Full Length beside a Vase, in Rotterdam (Coenen, op. cit., cat. nos A52 and A63, reproduced figs. 40 and 42).