Bears on the back the inscription: inscribed in brown ink « Bartolozzi 1768 » and the collector’s

mark of Juan Jorge Peoli (Lugt L.2020) « J. PEOLI ».

This refined 16th-century tondo is a faithful and sensitive reinterpretation of a composition by Parmigianino, now housed at the Willumsens Museum in Frederikssund (inv. G. S. 531). The intimacy of the grouped figures, the tender gestures, and the flowing network of curving lines evoke the original with remarkable elegance. The round format reinforces the softness and unity of the scene.

The subject of the Christ Child caressing the lamb — a prefiguration of his Passion, heralded by Saint John — was central in Renaissance iconography and treated by artists such as Leonardo and Raphael before Parmigianino developed his own variations.

Stylistic affinities with several drawings by Giorgio Vasari after Parmigianino, now in the Louvre, especially in the depiction of curly-haired figures and fluid contour lines, support an attribution to Vasari’s studio. Parmigianino, much admired by Vasari, strongly influenced his visual vocabulary.

The inscription on the verso, “Bartolozzi 1768” — likely apocryphal — and the collector’s mark of Juan Jorge Peoli (Lugt 2020) confirm a long and distinguished provenance.