Attributed to Aurelio Lomi (Pisa 1556-1622)

The son of the painter Giovanni Battista Lomi, and the half-brother of Orazio Gentileschi, Aurelio initially trained with his father before entering the workshop of Ludovico Cardi, il Cigoli. The present drawing is stylistically very similar to his work, particularly the Studies of youths pulling ropes sold in these Rooms, 11 December 1985, lot 190, although the present sheet is finer and more accomplished. Another comparable sheet of drawings by Lomi can be found in the Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 5306, F. Viatte, Musée du Louvre. Inventaire général des dessins italiens. III. Dessins toscans XVIe-XVIIIe siècles. I. 1560-1640, Paris, 1988, no. 268).