Lot Essay
Although inscribed with the name of Parmigianino, this drawing is in fact a characteristic work by his close associate and cousin by marriage, Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli. It was first recognised as such by Konrad Oberhuber, who suggested a connection with the grisaille figures in ovals frescoed by Bedoli on the cross-vaults of the choir of Parma Cathedral, M. di Giampaolo, op. cit., pp. 170-1. No such figure appears in the finished decoration, and so if the link is accepted, the drawing must represent a rejected idea for the project.