LORRAINE SCHOOL, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH-CENTURY

Saint John the Evangelist. Red chalk on cream laid paper mounted on card stock. 246x129 mm; 9x5 inches. Ex-collection R Lamponi (Lugt 1760) and unknown collector, ink stamp with the letter G in a square (not in Lugt). With 19th-century attributions to Antonello da Messina, Rosso Fiorentino and Cesura Aquilano "allievo del celebre Antonello Messina" in ink, verso. Comparable but superior to the likewise anonymous group of drawings from the orbit of Bellange in Stockholm, particularly to Bjurstr”m 744. However, the current drawing could conceivably still be earlier and date from the 16th-century.