Attributed to Bernardino Luini (Luino? circa 1480/5-1532 Lugano?)
Attributed to Bernardino Luini (Luino? circa 1480/5-1532 Lugano?)

Head of a woman looking down towards the right

Details
Attributed to Bernardino Luini (Luino? circa 1480/5-1532 Lugano?)
Head of a woman looking down towards the right
black, red and white chalk on brown prepared paper
11½ x 8 1/8 in.
Provenance
Johann Gustav Silberrad, whose collection was acquired by
Baron H.A. von Derschau (L. 2510).
An unidentified collector's mark (L. 3205).
G. Morelli (L. 1902).
E.R. Lamponi-Leopardi (L. 1760).
R. Bedoe until 1949, when purchased by the consignors to the below sale.
Anonymous sale; Phillips, London, 16 December 1998, lot 67 (as Bernardino Luini).
Exhibited
Paris, Louvre, La Sainte Anne l'ultime chef d'oeuvre de Leonard de Vinci, 2012, no. 110.

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Jennifer Wright
Jennifer Wright

Lot Essay

This drawing is clearly inspired by the head of the Virgin in Leonardo’s cartoon of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne of circa 1599-1600 now in the National Gallery, London. The draftsman has concentrated his attention on the play of light on the face and has hastily sketched the hair and the neck. In a letter to a previous owner quoted in the 1998 Phillips sale catalogue, Giulio Bora suggested Bernardino Luini as the most likely author of this drawing. Luini did execute a beautiful painted copy after the cartoon which he seems to have owned after Francesco Melzi inherited it from Leonardo (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana; exh. cat. La Sainte Anne l’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Leonard de Vinci, op. cit., no. 100).

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