Workshop of Agnolo Bronzino (Menticelli 1503-1572 Florence)

Following Bronzino's marmoreal finish in black chalk, this pin-pricked cartoon relates to the head of the Magdalen in the artist's Noli me tangere at Casa Buonarroti, Florence (see M. Brock, Bronzino, Paris, 2002, p. 297, ill.). Executed by Bronzino after his return from Pesaro in 1532, the painting is based upon a lost design by Michelangelo from which a version was previously painted by Pontormo. As suggested by Carmen Bambach, whom we thank, the sheet relates stylistically to a drawing from Bronzino's workshop in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (see C.C. Bambach in The Drawings of Bronzino, exhib. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010, p. 137, fig. 28-2).