Study for the Head of a Young Woman

Koenigs acquired this drawing in 1929 as a work by Federico Barocci (c.1535-1612), but four years later it was reattributed to his great paragon, Antonio da Correggio.^[1] And indeed, the young woman’s widely spaced eyes and soft, undulating lips do recall his work. One sees the same physiognomy in the many studies that Correggio made for his most important commission, the decoration of the dome of Parma Cathedral. An example is the red chalk study in Paris for the figure of Eve.^[2] Stylistically, though, the Rotterdam drawing does not fit Correggio’s working method, nor with the choice of red chalk. It is more probably the work of an artist who had made a close study of the master’s work. Comparable examples include the red chalk drawing in Windsor and a fragment of a fresco in Munich, both of which are given to an artist in Correggio’s circle.^[3]