The Madonna and Child

This drawing is characteristic of Piazzetta's red chalk preparatory compositions for engraving. The sheet belonged to an anonymous early collector (L. 3005c) known as ‘The Reliable Venetian Hand’ from the neat handwriting and the often accurate attributions inscribed on the drawings along the lower margin, first noticed by Arthur Popham (1889-1970) (see T. Mullaly, ‘The Reliable Venetian Hand - an exhibition and some additions’, Burlington Magazine, CIX, no. 766 (January 1967), pp. 48-51). Although in recent years some these early attributions have been questioned, the collector having been not as reliable as once thought, this is not the case for the present drawing.