A beggar holding a bowl (recto); A mother with her child (verso)

A friend and collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci, the Florentine sculptor Giovan Francesco Rustici was also a particularly gifted draftsman, as recorded by Giorgio Vasari who praised the sculptor's graphic skills ('Rustici drew very well, as may be seen, apart from our own book [Libro de' disegni], from the book of drawings of the very reverend Don Vincenzio Borghini.'; Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori [...], ed. R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi, V, Florence 1984, p. 488). Astutely identified by Gert Jan van der Sman, the present double-sided sheet relates to two drawings by Rustici in the Uffizi (inv. 224 F, 226 F; see Ph. Sénéchal, Giovan Francesco Rustici, 1475-1554. Un sculpteur de la Renaissance entre Florence et Paris, Paris 2008, pp. 52, 132, 147-148, nos. D.1, D.2, ill.; and T. Mozzati, Giovanfrancesco Rustici. Le Compagnie del paiuolo e della cazzuola. Arte, letteratura, festa nell’età della Maniera, Florence 2008, pp. 122-123, note 638, ill., as attributed to Rustici) all exhibiting a bold, yet disciplined penmanship and a striking relief-like quality. Both studies on recto and verso show a high level of accomplishment achieved through a subtle use of closely spaced crosshatching. Possibly executed in preparation of a sculptural project, the perfectly chiseled profile of the young beggar on the recto has been compared to the head of Saint John the Baptist, the centerpiece of Rustici's bronze group in the Baptistery of Florence. The beggar also resonates with Vasari's account of Rustici being "a man of surpassing goodness, and very loving to the poor." (op. cit. 1984, p. 489).