Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bologna)

Known for his rigor, Cato the Censor (234-149 BC) was portrayed by Guercino in 1635-1636 in a painting now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille (N. Turner, The Paintings of Guercino. A Revised and Expanded Catalogue Raisonné, Rome 2017, no. 223, ill.). In the painting, and in two related drawings at Windsor (D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989, nos. 86-87, ill.), Cato wears the same voluminous fur-trimmed hat shown in the present sheet. It appears to be a later drawing, possibly dating to the 1640s, as suggested by Nicholas Turner, whom we thank for confirming the attribution based on digital photographs.