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Lot Essay
Characteristic of Ligorio's antiquarian interest, the drawing is closely related to two early sheets in Oxford, Christ Church, and the British Museum, J. Gere, Some Early Drawings by Pirro Ligorio, Master Drawings, 3, 1971, pls. 4, 5. With the Oxford drawing it shares particularly the handling of the chalk, and with the London sheet a very similar composition with an almost identical pose of the seated female figure in the foreground.
In his early years, Ligorio was strongly influenced by Polidoro da Caravaggio, and all three drawings clearly reveal this dependence, as does the artist's only surviving painting in Rome, the fresco of the Dance of Salome in the Oratorio di San Giovanni Decollato, Rome. The scenes with antique sacrifices flanking the Salome fresco (Gere, op.cit., fig. 2) are close in spirit and style to the composition of the present drawing.
In his early years, Ligorio was strongly influenced by Polidoro da Caravaggio, and all three drawings clearly reveal this dependence, as does the artist's only surviving painting in Rome, the fresco of the Dance of Salome in the Oratorio di San Giovanni Decollato, Rome. The scenes with antique sacrifices flanking the Salome fresco (Gere, op.cit., fig. 2) are close in spirit and style to the composition of the present drawing.