A standing man in profile holding a spear, with smaller, rapidly studied nude figures to the right

This unpublished drawing by Agostino Carcacci has a linear dynamicism befitting an artist who also trained as an engraver. It is executed with vigorous outlines of varying intensity. A flurry of cross-hatching provides contour, shading and volume to the largest male figure on the left. The overall mise-en-page of male figure studies of various sizes is similar to a drawing in the Royal Collection (C. Robinson and C. Whistler, Drawings by the Carracci from British Royal Collections, exhib. cat., Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1996, no. 22). Another drawing combines a larger figure study with smaller, more rapidly executed studies (Sotheby's, New York, 14 January 1992, lot 49). The large figure on the far left of the present sheet in particular has stylistic affinities with another drawing by Agostino formerly in the collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz (Sotheby's, New York, 23 January 2008, lot 54).
The drawing is not related to any known painting or print by Agostino.
We are grateful to Mario Giampaolo for confirming the attribution of this drawing.