About this artwork

This study of a cloaked peasant sitting cross-legged is remarkably informal for a drawing dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century. The precise and carefully executed lines are not wholly typical of Romanino’s draughtsmanship, but a small sketch on the other side confirms the attribution to him. The seated figure is related to the central figure in a small painting by Romanino of Apollo and Marsyas of around 1513. The spontaneity and evident speed at which Romanino used his pen to hatch in the shadows of the cloak reveal that the drawing was done from life.

Updated before 2020

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Girolamo Romanino

Girolamo Romanino