Niccolò Berrettoni (Marcerata di Montefeltro 1637-1682 Rome)

This is by the same hand (and apparently of the same child from a different angle) as the red chalk study of a head of a child formerly at Holkham, Christie's, London, 2 July 1991, lot 56 and sold again in these Rooms, 16 July 2010, lot 129, from the collection of Walter Lees. That drawing also carries an early attribution to Berrettoni who was Carlo Maratti's (1625-1713) ablest follower. Recently that drawing has been attributed to Maratti himself by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò (S.Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, in L'oeil et la Passion 2: Dessins baroques italiens dans les collection privées Françaises, exhib. cat., Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2015, no. 62, ill.).