Attributed to Lorenzo Costa

Previously ascribed to Bernardino Luini, the drawing was attributed to Bramantino by Fairfax Murray, a suggestion rejected by Schendel in 1938 in his catalogue of Bramantino’s work. By 1948, it was given to Lorenzo Costa, as witnessed by a Colnaghi catalogue of that year, an attribution which since has been generally accepted. The only dissenting voice was Philip Pouncey, who in 1958 suggested Marcantonio Raimondi.

There is indeed ample room for confusion between the work of Costa and Raimondi, because the latter in his later years rejected the more precise line of his early works, which had been inspired by nielli, and, under the influence of Costa, favored a freer and more rapid draftsmanship. The style of this sheet is indeed very close to drawings given to Raimondi, such as that of a Woman Astride a Lion in the Fondation Custodia (inv. 1353; Paris 2001, no. 3) and a sheet of studies in Bayonne that includes a nude couple and a seated male nude (inv. 1346; Bologna 1988, 55, no. 1). On balance, however, the more angular treatment of form - apparent despite a subject that calls for flowing draperies and flourishes - seems more akin to Costa’s work after ca. 1497, when the artist was strongly influenced by Filippino Lippi.