Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino

T. Hudson (L.2432);
Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2365);
with Lorna Lowe, London, Old Master Drawings, 1984, no. 16, reproduced pl. 10; 
sale, London, Christie's, 6 December 1988, lot 58, reproduced;
W.M. Brady, New York

D. Ekserdjian, 'Unpublished drawings by Parmigianino: Towards a Supplement to Popham's catalogue raisonné,' Apollo, August 1999, p. 11, no. 13; p. 9, fig. 15;
S. Béguin et al., Parmigianino: The Drawings, Turin 2000, p. 204, no. 82, reproduced p. 241;
A. Gnann, Parmigianino, Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg 2007, vol. I, p. 365, no. 100, reproduced vol. II, p. 122

Window mounted. Staining around the outer margins of the sheet. The verso has remnants of glue stains where the sheet may have been previously laid down. The red chalk remains fresh and strong. Framed.
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All the scholars compare this with a red chalk drawing of an eagle in the British Museum, which Popham dated to before Parmigianino's departure for Rome in 1524,¹ but they also point out that the lively characterization and more spontaneous style of the present study suggest that it was probably based on direct observation.

1.  A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971, vol. I, p. 87, no. 167, reproduced vol. II, pl. 79