Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Sold in a gilded wood frame. The paper appears to have been exposed to some light, but may also originally have been a light brown. There are some light, small, isolated fox marks, but these are not particularly noticeable and the pencil and ink are still strong.
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This charming study was probably executed during Corot's first trip to Rome, from November 1825 to the summer of 1828.  Ingres was in the city just a few months before, and his influence is seen in the composition of this sheet, particularly in the glimpse of a townscape in the distance. 

'Rosa' is most likely to have been a professional model, paid by Corot to sit for him.  Studies such as this, of half- or three-quarter-length seated women in regional costume were initially drawn by the artist as preparation for the painted landscapes for which he is most famous, but later in his career they were to become independent works in their own right.  Their significance to Corot is evident from letters dating from 1856-7 in which he asks friends to send him costumes from specific Italian cities.¹ 

Unlike many drawings, this sheet is not marked with the stamp of Corot's estate sale, and therefore must have left his studio during his lifetime, either as a gift or a purchase.  The attribution to Corot was confirmed by Martin Dietele in a letter dated September 2004; the drawing will be included by him and Jill Newhouse in their forthcoming addition to the Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre graphique de Corot. 

1. P. Stein, French Drawings from the Brirish Museum, Clouet to Seurat, London 2005, exhibition catalogue, p. 178, under no. 74