Lot Essay
After the composition of which a version is in the Galleria Corsini, Rome. Traditionally identified as a portrait of Beatrice Cenci, the attribution of the original to Reni was challenged by the late Dr. Stephen Pepper, who suggested that the composition derives from a prototype by Elisabetta Sirani influenced by Reni and his studio (see S. Pepper, Guido Reni, Oxford, 1984, p. 304, no. C6).