A draped female figure moving to the right

Diane De Grazia had suggested a cautious attribution of the sheet to Jacopo Zanguidi, il Bertoia (1544-1573), noting how ‘the classical features of the woman and the soft chalk strokes’ are not typical of Bertoia’s manner (De Grazia, op. cit., 1991, p. 139). More recently David Ekserdjian (written communication November 2023) has proposed the tentative attribution to Girolamo Mirola. The drawing presents strong affinities, in style and subject matter, with a sheet in the British Museum, Three women running, that has also been recently ascribed to Mirola (inv. 1952,0229.8; see D. Ekserdjian, in La Maniera Emiliana. Bertoja, Mirola, da Parma alle corti d'Europa, exhib. cat., Fontanellato, Labirinto della Masone, 2019, no. 12, ill.).

Mirola was a contemporary of Bertoia and the two artists collaborated in many decorative commissions for the Farnese in Parma. Among Mirola’s best-known artistic achievements are the frescoes painted for Duke Ottavio Farnese in the Palazzo del Giardino, Parma.