Guglielmo Caccia, called Moncalvo

Dr. Henry Wellesley (1791-1866),

probably his sale, London, Sotheby's, 25 June 1866, lot number unidentified;

John F. Keane, London;

with William H. Schab Gallery, New York, by 1964 (as Luca Signorelli);

Norton Simon Foundation, Fullerton,

by whom sold, through William H. Schab,

to Ian Woodner (1903-1990), in 1973;

Private Collection, New York

Though this accomplished sheet entered the distinguished collection of Ian Woodner as Luca Signorelli (1441-1523) it was subsequently reattributed by Konrad Oberhuber to Camillo Procaccini (1561-1629), in a written communication with Woodner in 1982. This shift in attribution was partially due to the fact that a sheet depicting a Seated female figure facing right, in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum¹, was at the time also tentatively given to Procaccini. There can be no doubt that both the Woodner and Fogg drawings are by the same hand, however the recent reemergence of the Woodner drawing has refocused academic attention on the attribution of both sheets. Cristiana Romalli has recently convincingly attributed the Woodner drawing to the Piedmontese artist Guglielmo Caccia, called Moncalvo, a view which has subsequently been endorsed by Antonella Chiodo. Chiodo has kindly informed us that although these figures in black chalk (generally female saints) are very rare, there are a number of similar studies; see for instance, those in the Biblioteca Reale, and in the Museo Civico, Turin.²

¹Cambridge, Mass., The Harvard Art Museums, inv. no. 1932.296

²Turin, Biblioteca Reale, cart. 6/18 ter; Turin, Museo Civico d'Arte antica, inv. no. 4643/DS