It has not been possible to identify one “Monsignore Francesco Paludino (or Paladino) of Ferrara” referred to in the inscription – probably the sitter rather than the artist – and no such person is listed in Luigi Ughi’s Dizionario storico degli uomini illustri Ferraresi (Ferrara, 1804). The similarity in physiognomy pointed out by A. E. Popham (unpublished note in curatorial file, 1958) with the gem-cutter and medalist Valerio Belli, as seen in an anonymous drawn portrait in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, once thought to be by Parmigianino, is probably coincidental.1 However, as Laura Zukerman observed (oral communication with Morgan curators, 2003), the profile of the sitter of the Morgan drawing may have been retraced in ink in order to create a more hawk-like nose and a more protruding ridge over the eye-brows, thus strengthening the resemblance to Belli. The dense cross-hatching in the background suggests that the drawing is a study for a portrait engraving. The artist is probably North Italian and may well have been Ferrarese, active in the first half of the sixteenth century.
Footnotes:
- Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, inv. I.392. See Vicenza 2000, 270-71, no. 2.
It has not been possible to identify one "Monsignore Francesco Paludino (or Paladino) of Ferrara" referred to in the inscription, perhaps the sitter rather than the artist.
Inscribed near bottom in pen and brown ink, "Monsr[r in superscript] fraco[o in superscript] paludino primo co[...; cut]/ ferara"; on verso at top, cut by edge of paper, in pen and brown ink, parmesan; in pencil in lower left corner, "702".
Watermark: Six-pointed star, fragment of larger watermark (cf. Briquet 6030).
Belli, Valerio, approximately 1468-1546, Formerly attributed to.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.
Selected references: Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 4: no. 157 (as school of Ferrara).
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, 157. (as School of Ferrara)