Lot 57: GUIDO CAGNACCI Study for a female head

GUIDO CAGNACCI
Study for a female head
Pastel and pencil on blue paper

We would argue that this outstanding drawing is a preparatory study for the head of the Virgin Reading, now in the Ducrot Collection in Rome and formerly in the Ugolini Collection in Cesena. The painting in question, which is certainly by Cagnacci because it is signed on the Virgin's mantle, may be dated to 1655–6, and thus the drawing may be dated to the same period. (On the Ducrot painting, see: A.Brogi, in Guido Cagnacci, protagonista del Seicento tra Caravaggio e Reni, catalogue of an exhibition held in the Musei di San Domenico in Forlì, edited by D. Benati and A. Paolucci, Milan 2008, pp. 298–9). Drawings attributable to the master, or to his circle or imitators, which have come onto the market are not only extremely rare but of a quality decidedly inferior to this one. They include a Study of a Female Nude (sold at Christie's in London on 1 July 1997; 20 x 14 cm) which, while it has never been suggested that it might be an au- tograph work, is nevertheless interesting as an example of the master's intense and me- lancholy treatment of the female face.
200 x 258 mm

200 x 258 mm

Pastel and pencil on blue paper