Two heavily bearded men, half-length

The attribution to Stefano da Verona or an artist close to him is supported by Professor Evelyn Karet, on the basis of a photograph, in a communication dated 9 May 2007. Professor Karet relates the drawing particularly to a double-sided sheet of studies of Seated prophets in the British Museum which shows a similar swooping line and a comparable approach to delineating curling hair (E. Karet, The Drawings of Stefano da Verona and his Circle, and the Origins of Collecting in Italy: A Catalogue Raisonné, Philadelphia, 2002, no. 13). Professor Karet further suggests that attributions to contemporaries such as Belbello da Pavia or Liberale da Verona should also be considered, drawing parallels with a study of A figure of a bearded haloed saint leaning on a stick, now attributed to the former artist, in the Louvre (E. Karet, op. cit., no. R30).