Traditionally identified as "a Man Holding a Banner" but as suggested by Marco Simone Bolzoni (2013, cat. 124) more likely a shepherd holding a staff, wearing a straw hat, as often seen in painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds; it does not, however, correspond to a known painting by the artist. Bolzoni suggests that the drawing may have been a rejected idea for Cesari's Adoration of the Shepherds of 1594 in S. Maria in Via, Rome, but he also notes that a similar figure appears in an early sketch (Louvre, Paris, inv 9732) for the artist's Finding of the She-Wolf fresco in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.
Watermark: none visible through lining.
Inscribed on verso, in pen and brown ink, "2 / p. 2 / Zs. 4".
Richardson, Jonathan, 1694-1771, former owner.
Lucas, Lionel, 1822-1862, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Scholz, Janos. Italian Master Drawings, 1350-1800, from the Janos Scholz Collection. New York : Dover, 1976, no. 69, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 184.