A nude woman and man reading a scroll

Very rarely drawings by the Brescian artist Girolamo Romanino are available on the market. Together with beautiful drawings softly executed in red or black chalk, Romanino made many quick studies in pen and ink for single figures or more complex compositions. The present sheet seems to belong with these drawings, many of which have been dated towards the end of the artist’s career (see A. Nova, ‘L’opera grafica di Girolamo Romanino’, in Romanino. Un pittore in rivolta nel Rinascimento italiano, exhib. cat., Trent, Castello del Buonconsiglio, 2006, pp. 320-323). In spite the not perfect condition of the sheet, its technique and fluid style of execution, together with the presence of the figure seen from the back, are characteristic of Romanino’s graphic manner.