A seated woman in profile

The mount of this drawing, with its characteristic geometric patterns, was formerly known as the 'Casa Gennari mount' (named after Guercino's heirs, the Gennari). Nicholas Turner, however, has established that the impoverished family of the artist was not responsible for the elaborate mounting, but rather the celebrated collector John Bouverie, who owned hundreds of Guercino drawings (N. Turner, 'John Bouverie as a collector of drawings', The Burlington Magazine, XCCCVI, 1994, no. 1091, pp. 90-9). The seated woman shown in this sheet is rather close to the one, holding a bird in her left hand, which appears in a landscape drawing sold at Christie's, Paris, 21 March 2018, lot 13.