Lot Essay
The verso is close to the figure of the crouching Saint Francis in the drawing of The Madonna and Child with Saint Francis in the Museo Francescano in Rome, K. van Dooren, I disegni del Museo Francescano di Roma, Rome, 1995, illustrated on the cover. The long, flat and detailed fingers on the recto are comparable to some in Cerano's late pictures, such as the Saint Jerome in the Galleria Spada, Rome, The Madonna and Child with Saint Carlo Borrommeo and Saint Hugues in Pavia, The Madonna and Child with Saint Francis in Milan, The Madonna and Child with Saints in Turin and Saint Francis adoring the Cruxifix, M. Rosci, Mostra del Cerano, exhib. cat., Novara, 1964, figs. 66, 142, 144, 158 and 162.