Head of a young girl seen in profile holding her dress in her left hand

As kindly suggested by Andrew Robison, this drawing is the work of Domenico Maggiotto, one of the artists active in the Venetian workshop of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754). Piazzetta produced many large drawings similar to the present sheet depicting either portraits of real people or generic heads (teste di carattere). These drawings were sold as independent works of art and avidly collected. Piazzetta’s pupils followed closely in his footsteps creating drawings so similar in subject matter and technique that they often are mistaken as by the master’s own hand. The present drawing can be compared with other sheets by the artist such as the Head of a girl in profile in the Museo Correr, Venice (inv. 1617; see T. Pignatti, Disegni antichi del Museo Correr di Venezia, Venice, 1996, V, no. 1134, ill.), or A young woman fixing her hair at the National Gallery of Art in Washington (inv. 1997.57.4; see A. Robison, Building a Collection, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1997, no. 55, ill.).