Studies of the Virgin and Child with the infant Baptist

When in the famous collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds, this drawing was reproduced in print as a prime example of the work of Correggio (1489-1534), the greatest Emilian artist before Parmigianino, to whom it was later attributed. Reynolds also owned a related painting, a Rest on the Flight to Egypt (Vaccaro, 2013-2014, op. cit., p. 49, fig. 1), which he also considered a work by Correggio. It was only quite recently that the hand of Giorgio Gandini del Grano – who may have been a pupil of Correggio – was recognized. Del Grano's career seemed to take off when Correggio died, though it was to be cut short by his own untimely death. The combined use of red chalk and pen and the angular lines are characteristic features of the artist’s drawings, as are the scattered inscriptions. A much more finished drawing in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle (inv. RCIN 990599; see Vaccaro, 2013-2014, op. cit., p. 50, fig. 2), related to the painting mentioned above, shows a later stage in the artist's working process, when Gandini had brought under control the outburst of compositional ideas to which the Landolt sheet so attractively bears witness.