Gaetano Gandolfi (San Matteo della Decima 1734-1802 Bologna)

This drawing echoes those by Gaetano's elder brother, Ubaldo, but in an updated mode. It may be compared, for example, to a drawing given to Ubaldo, showing seven studies of grotesque heads, sold at Christie's, New York, 9 January 1991, lot 6 and and it is particularly close to a drawing given to Gaetano, also showing grotesques and executed in the same technique, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (R.J. Campbell, Master Drawings from the Collection of Alfred Moir, exhib. cat., Minneapolis Institute of Arts and elsewhere, 2000-2002, no. 23, ill.).

We are grateful to Marco Riccòmini for his assistance in cataloguing this drawing and for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph.