Lot 37: An infant looking down to the left, with subsidiary studies of a seated infant and two studies of a seated female nude

Giovanni Biliverti (Maastricht 1576-1666 Florence) An infant looking down to the left, with subsidiary studies of a seated infant and two studies of a seated female nude with inscriptions 'N o. 29.' ( recto ), 'Biliverti' ( verso , laid down) and 'Paolo 10' on the mount red chalk, on a 19th Century mount 9 5/8 x 7 1/8 in. (243 x 180 mm.)

Comte Alain de Suzannet.
Comtesse Alain de Suzannet; Lausanne, 21 September 1976.
An unidentified collector's mark HF (not in Lugt).

FROM A SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
The infant in the lower right of this sheet can be related to the figure of Cupid in Biliverti's Sleeping Venus, painted for Don Lorenzo de' Medici in 1638, formerly in the collection of Joseph Cremer, Dortmund (R. Contini, Bilivert, Saggio di Ricostruzione, Florence, 1985, no. 60, fig. 74).
The female nudes are no doubt studies for a Magdalene in the Desert, a favourite subject of Billiverti's.