STEFANO DELLA BELLA (Florence 1610-1664)

As indicated by a stamp on the mount and by the distinctive ruled lines that frame the drawing, this sheet was part of the so-called Kinnaird Castle sketchbook – an album of drawings by Stefano della Bella assembled in the early 19th Century and later disbound and dispersed at auction in 1946. Now scattered among museums and private collections, the drawings include both single figure studies (for an example, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 2012.136.500), as well as more elaborate compositions (Minneapolis Institute of Art, inv. 2012.58.9).