Study of Male Genitals

This album page, with a group of chalk studies, was put together some time in the 17th century, most likely in Italy judging from the paper. It comes from a larger album that was broken up in the late 1970s and sold at auction. At this sale, four of the studies from this sheet had already been removed, where there are traces of pink adhesive. The album contained many drawings by the great Roman master, Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d'Arpino, suggesting that the drawings were collected and brought together by one of Cesari's students. The study of the bearded man and the veiled young woman on the album page have been accepted as autograph works of Cavaliere d'Arpino by scholar Herwarth Röttgen. This study of male genitals, instead, might be by an artist in Cesari's circle.