Andrea Boscoli (Florence 1560-1607)

The inscription 'Jerom' on the present sheet is found in the same hand on the verso of a number of drawings, including a pen and wash drawing by Pirro Ligorio of The Virgin and Child with the Infant Baptist and Saint Elizabeth in the British Museum. This inscripion has been associated with Nicholas Lanier's uncle Jerome who was an active collector of drawings in the period before his death in 1657. The elder Richardson claimed that foreign drawings were brought to England by 'les deux Frères Laniers' almost certainly meaning Nicholas and Jerome whom he had mistaken for brothers (J. Wood, 'Nicholas Lanier', Collecting prints and drawings in Europe, c. 1500-1750, Aldershot, 2003, p. 96-7).