Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino

Sir Peter Lely (L.2092);
Jonathan Richardson Senior (L.2184), on his mount, reduced;
with Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York

Laid down on the remains of the J. Richardson mount and then hinged onto a modern mount. There is evidence of very light foxing and surface dirt throughout. The pen and ink medium is very good and fresh. Sold in a giltwood frame.
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A beautifully executed pen and ink drawing largely consisting of three head studies, the present sheet must date from Parmigianino’s late Roman period, circa 1526-27.  The carefully calligraphic handling of the pen, with delicate and distinctive short strokes, and crosshatching to define the features of the strongly lit faces, is typical of other finished sheets by the artist.  The attention is focused on the heads, which surely represent Christ and two Apostles.  It could be a study related to Parmigianino’s composition of Christ, surrounded by Apostles, healing lepers, known from a drawing at Chatsworth,¹ and datable to the same moment, used by Niccolò Vicentino for his chiaroscuro woodcut in the same direction (B. XII, p. 39,15).  

^1. Chatsworth, The Devonshire Collection, inv. no. 335; A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971, vol. I, pp. 204-5, reproduced vol. II, pl. 133