Watermark: none visible through lining.
Augustine Novellus (1240-1309) was beatified by Pope Clement XIII on 11 July 1759. A related drawing representing San Pellegrino Triocalitano that probably belongs to the same series exists in the collection of Michael Venator, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, (Venator, letter of 22 July 2007). The attribution to Alessandro Magnasco was already contested by Franchini Guelfi in 1999. Venator suggested instead a Sicilian draughtsman because both saints were almost exclusively worshiped in Sicily and the drawings bear inscriptions that appear to be in Sicilian dialect.
Formerly attributed to Alessandro Magnasco, Genoa 1667-1749 Genoa.
Inscribed in brush and gray-brown wash at lower margin, "B. Agustinu novelli"; in pen and brown ink, "B. Augustinus novellus Panormitanus"; in black chalk on verso, "Pietro Novelli".
Anonymous, Italian School, 18th cent., Alternate attribution.
Magnasco, Alessandro, 1667?-1749, Formerly attributed to.
Calmann, Hans M., former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Franchini Guelfi, Fausta. Alessandro Magnasco: i disegni. Genova : Sagep, 1999, p. 16.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Eighteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975-1977. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978, p. 275.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. III: The eighteenth century in Italy. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1971, no. 15, repr. (includes previous bibliography and exhibitions)
Scholz, Janos. Italian Master Drawings, 1350-1800, from the János Scholz Collection. New York : Dover, 1976, no. 121, repr.