Circe
First half of the XVI century. Pencil, Grey-brown ink on yellow paper.Not on display
Traditionally identified as the work of Parmigianino, this drawing must have been an important icon in both Brun´s (?) and Fernández Durán´s collections on account of Carderera´s previous owner ship of it.
This drawing of Circe is connected with Parmigianino´s well-known in the mid-1520s, which was published soon after as a chiaroscuro woodcut. In the finished work, the temptress drinks her potion tantalizingly in front of the awestruck comrades of Ulysses in what may seem a more subtle and inviting gesture than the beckoning hand seen in the Prado drawing.
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Chicago, Art Services International, 2008, p.334