No previously known drawing perhaps so strongly evoked the deliberate, impassive, almost sinister coldness of Bronzino's painted portraits. The precise technique, and the arrangement of the folds on the sleeves, anticipate Ingres, as does the masterly subordination of elaborately-studied detail to largeness of conception. Faint chalk lines show that there was to be a background of drapery with an archway on the left.

Provenance

Skippe Collection, Mr Edward Holland-Martin.