FRANCISCO HERRERA, THE ELDER A Male Grotesque Head<>.
Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper. 141x101 mm; 5 3/4x4 inches. Faintly squared in red chalk for transfer. With an early attribution to Carracci in ink, lower left recto. Ex-collection unknown collector, ink stamp with an eagle in a double circle and the name Z.Stelle f. Denkmalschutz im BdsMin.f.Unterr, verso (not in Lugt); Bernhard Funck, Munich, ink stamp verso (not in Lugt); and unknown collector, red ink stamp with the letter G in a square verso (not in Lugt).
Originally attributed to (Agostino) Carracci like many other Spanish drawings in this manner, the very tight parallel-hatching would point towards Herrera "El Viejo" (1576-1656) rather than to his son (1622-1685) or Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra (1616-1668), another Sevillian artist whose drawings display a similar but looser and finer style of hatching.
An alternative attribution to Jan Bouckhorst (circa 1588-1631) has also been suggested.
