Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino

With a very strong debt to Correggio, the present study of a female figure in armor with a sword must date from Parmigianino's early period in Parma, prior to his departure for Rome in 1524. The facial type is closely comparable to a pen and brown ink drawing of a Standing woman holding a bass violin, in Budapest,¹ which is a study for the woman with the viola da gamba in the representation of St. Cecilia on one of the organ shutters of S. Maria della Steccata, Parma, a project dating from before Parmigianino's journey to Rome. Another associated study for the St. Cecilia is in the Louvre.²

^Though it seems difficult to reconcile the handling in this sheet with Parmigianino's later and more mature style, Mario Di Giampaolo (see Literature) has proposed instead a dating during the artist's stay in Rome (1524-1527). He also observed that Parmigianino executed studies for a Minerva on other, even later occasions, citing a pen and ink study of Minerva unsheathing her sword,³ which relates to the small statuette in the bottom left corner of the portrait of Pier Maria de' Rossi, Count of San Secondo (circa 1535-1538), now in the Prado.⁴  

^1. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. no. 2108 (recto); A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, London 1971, vol. I, no. 37 (recto), reproduced vol. II, pl. 25

^2. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. 6456; Popham, op. cit., vol. I, no. 435, reproduced vol. II, pl. 24

^3. Formerly Steiner Collection, and sale, London, Christie's, 9 December 1975, lot 15; D. Ekserdjian, 'Unpublished drawings by Parmigianino. Towards a Supplement to Popham's catalogue raisonné,' Apollo, 1999, p. 37, no. 65, reproduced, p. 35, fig. 83 

^4. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. P00279