Attributed to Pietro da CORTONA (Cortona, 1596 - Rome, 1669) Recto: Portrait of a woman Verso: Torso and right arm of a Vulcan blacksmith Black chalk, red chalk and white chalk on grey-blue paper (recto); black chalk (verso) Inscribed 'Di Pietro da Cortona. 20 Aprile 1639 z. 10' on verso, by a 17th-century Italian hand Unframed Front : Portrait of a lady ; Back : Torso and right arm of a Vulcan blacksmith, black, red and white chalk, attr. to P. da Cortona 13.26 x 10.70 in. 33.7 x 27.2 cm Provenance: Unidentified 18th century English collector, formerly on its stand, with its stamp P n° 52 ; Anonymous sale, Christie's, South Kensington, 25 April 2007, no. 337, repr, (as an entourage of Pietro da Cortona) In a letter dated 16 September 2007, Professor Nicholas Turner gave this drawing to Pietro da Cortona, likening it to the head of Leah in The Marriage of Jacob and Rachel, a draft for a painting known from a drawing in the Kunsthaus Heylshof in Worms, dated c. 1630. The sketch on the reverse is likened by Nicholas Turner to a figure of a giant in Vulcan's Forge painted on the ceiling of the Palazzo Barberini (between 1632 and 1639). The date on the verso of our drawing corresponds to the end of the work on this ceiling. Attributed to Pietro da CORTONA (Cortona, 1596 - Rome, 1669) 33.7 x 27.2 cm In a letter dated 16 September 2007, Professor Nicholas Turner attributed this drawing to Pietro da Cortona, likening it to the head of Leah in The Marriage of Jacob and Rachel, a draft for a painting known from a drawing preserved in Worms at the Kunsthaus Heylshof, dated c. 1630. The sketch on the reverse is likened by Nicholas Turner to a figure of a giant in Vulcan's Forge painted on the ceiling of the Palazzo Barberini (between 1632 and 1639). The date on the verso of our drawing corresponds to the end of the work on this ceiling.