Formerly attributed to Francesco Primaticcio, Bologna 1504/5-1570 Paris.
When the drawing entered the collection it was given to Francesco Primaticcio and was said to be preparatory for the decoration of the Palace of Fontainebleau. However, there is little to support an attribution to that master. The paper (see watermark) suggests that it was made by an as yet unidentified French artist of the second half of the sixteenth or even seventeenth century.
The drawing entered the collection with an attribution to Francesco Primaticcio. It is executed on French paper from the second half of the sixteenth century and is likely a later copy by an unknown French artist, possibly after a work by Primaticcio.
Watermark: Pot with two handles, fragment (close to Briquet 12900-12902: Angouleme, 1554; Poitiers, 1555; Bretagne 1560).
Primaticcio, Francesco, 1504-1570, after, Formerly attributed to.
Saint-Saphorin, Armand-François-Louis de Mestral de, 1738-1805, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Scholz, Janos. Italian Master Drawings, 1350-1800, from the János Scholz Collection. New York : Dover, 1976, 38, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 210.