Inscribed lower margin in pen and ink Lazzaro Baldi and Baldi, pen and brown ink and grey wash, some later workings, pen and brown ink framing lines, traces of black chalk squaring,

236 x 165 mm. (9 x 6 in.)

The attribution has been suggested by Jrg Merz, on the basis of a photograph, and is closely comparable to a number of drawings of the same subject and medium and in Dsseldorf and other German museum1. Other comparable drawings that have been on the market include one of God the Father chastising a cabalist also in the same medium. 2

The subject matter was suggested by Dr Berthold Kress, who has suggested this is possibly representing the death of St Stanislaus Kostka, where an image of Our Lady his brought to him on his deathbed, and this is an image of the Maria della Strada very much venerated by the Jesuits.

Stanislaus Kostka (1550-1567) was a Polish novice of the Society of Jesuits. 3

1.Written communication 19 June 2012, see Zeitschrift fr christliche Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft, das Mnster, Kunst der Barockzeit, Dietmar Spengler, Eine Heiligenvita des Stanislaus Kostka von Giovanni Battista Lenardi, pp.204-213

2.Christies South Kensington, 15 December 1999, lot 45.

3.Written communication, 6 June 2012.