Bernardino Lanino (Vercelli circa 1509-after 1581 Milan)

Previously attributed to Gaudenzio Ferrari (1475/80-1546), this drawing was recognized as a work by his pupil Lanino by R.R. Coleman (op. cit.). He identified it as a preparatory study for Lanino's Madonna delle Grazie in the church of San Paolo in the artist's native Vercelli (Fig. 1). Lanino received the commission around 1554, though the painting is signed and dated 1568. Another version of the head by Lanino remains in the collection of the Biblioteca Reale, Turin (inv. 14646 S.M.; Astura and Romano, op. cit., pp. 116-17, no. 32) and there is a workshop version of the head in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (inv. 1993.325).

Although this drawing was executed late in Lanino's career, it is still strongly influenced by the art of his master, Gaudenzio Ferrari, whose style remained the preferred taste of patrons in Vercelli. Indeed, the contract for Lanino's Madonna delle Grazie, drawn up on 8 May 1554, specified that the artist should base his altarpiece on Gaudenzio's Madonna degli Aranci in the church of San Cristoforo, also in Vercelli.