Description: Numbered in pen and brown ink at lower right: 59 (Sparre) and 83

Degenhart and Schmitt recognise Benozzo Gozzoli's own hand in these drawings. The eagle is a copy of the antique (Trajan) relief in the vestibule of SS. Apostoli, Rome, obviously executed directly from the original during Gozzoli's first visit in Rome 1447-1449, and not as in the Rotterdam pattern book derived from earlier studies. 
The representation of St Francis and of the head might be a study in reverse for Gozzoli's fresco in S. Francesco in Montefalco (1450-1452).  Degenhart and Schmitt compare the study stylistically and qualitatively with the representations of St Jerome in the Uffizi and the Angel in the Harewood collection.
A copy from the Gozzoli-workshop of the verso, once in the Rotterdam album is in the Academia, Venice [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1072 (recto)]

Utforska konstnärer och föremål som finns i Nationalmuseums samlingar.

Explore the artists and artworks of Nationalmuseum Sweden.

Benozzo Gozzoli | Örn omgiven av en eklövskrans | Nationalmuseum