Watermark: none.
Mounted with I, 46d:1.
Pierre-Jean Mariette was an expert paper restorer and often manipulated the drawings in his collection with the intention of improving their legibility. He commonly added strips of paper around the edges of drawings not only to supply missing parts of the composition but also to center the sheets on the mounts more precisely. On this mat he framed two very small Parmigianino sketches together. Close observation shows that the tiny fragment at the top was enlarged around the edges and its composition completed by the collector in pen and ink. -- Exhibition Label, from "Pierre-Jean Mariette and the Art of Collecting Drawings."
Inscribed at left, in pen and brown ink, "Aa.b.c.d.o"; in lower right corner, in pen and black ink, "69"; on mount in a cartouche, at center, beneath the drawing, in pen and brown ink, "FR. MAZZUOLA / dictus / Parmigianino / 1509 - 1590"; at lower left, beneath Mariette border, in pen and brown ink, "363"; on verso of mount, at lower left, in pen and brown ink, "Mariette / Le Roy / Sir Thomas Lawrence / W. Coningham."; in upper left corner, in pen and brown ink, "228"; this cancelled, and next to it, in graphite, "1684 / 1685"; at lower left, in graphite, "/ 300"; to the right of this, "2.10".
Mariette, Pierre-Jean, 1694-1774, former owner.
Lagoy, Jean-Baptiste de Meryan, marquis de, 1764-1829, former owner.
Fries, Moritz, Graf von, 1777-1826, former owner.
Lawrence, Thomas, Sir, 1769-1830, former owner.
Coningham, William, 1815-1884, former owner.
Leighton of Stretton, Frederic Leighton, Baron, 1830-1896, former owner.
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: Popham 1971, 1:122, no. 308; Vaccaro 2002, 189, no. 37; Gnann 2007, 1: 468, no. 732.