Head of a sleeping boy (recto); Three fragmentary studies, including one of a leg (verso)

When it appeared on the art market in 1992 this drawing was tentatively attributed to Annibale Carracci. Shortly thereafter, though, it was recognized as a chalk drawing by his cousin Ludovico. The sheet exemplifies two important aspects of the artist’s graphic style: the use of red chalk in a soft and delicate manner reflects the lessons Ludovico had learned from Correggio, while the vivid naturalism of the subject matter is derived from the practice of drawing from life promoted in the Carracci’s workshop. Men, children and young boys caught sound asleep are recurrent motifs in the drawings of both Ludovico and his cousin Annibale. Examples of this kind of studies are Ludovico’s famous Study of a nude boy sleeping at the Ashmolean Museum (inv. WA1853.1.22; see Bohn, op. cit., 2004, no. 52, ill.), and the Bust of a sleeping man by Annibale in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest (inv. 1837; see A. Czére, 17th Century Italian Drawings in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2004, no. 66, ill.). Although the present sheet cannot be considered a preparatory study, the peaceful image of the child absorbed in his sleep closely recalls, as first suggested by Kate Ganz, Jesus sleeping in the arms of Saint Catherine in Ludovico’s painting in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome (A. Brogi, Ludovico Carracci, Bologna, 2012, no. 38, ill.).