The Virgin, half-length, her hands clasped in prayer, and the head of sleeping man (recto); Seven studies of hands and two studies of a right leg (verso)

The drawing was formerly in an album in the Giroux Collection, assembled by Hendrick Bloemaert, the son of the artist. These drawings are generally double-sided and drawn in red and white chalk on light brown paper. They all have a small number in pen in the upper right corner. The present drawing bears in the lower right corner of the sheet the small pen inscription 'keer om', literally 'turn over', to indicate that the sheet was double-sided. This type of inscription is typical of the dealer-collector Zoomer, who was active in Amsterdam in the early 18th Century. Another sheet from the Giroux album with a similar inscription was sold at Christie's London, 4 July 2000, lot 214.
Further sheets from the Giroux album were sold at Christie's London, 10 July 2001, lot 153; at Christie's Amsterdam, 9 November 1998, lots 36-37 and from the Alfred Normand Collection, Christie's Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 76.
Most of these drawings are connected with works by Abraham Bloemaert, and many were engraved by his son for the Konstryk Tekenboek, seven volumes of prints to instruct young artists in the art of draughtsmanship. The first prints were published betwen 1650 and 1656, but the complete set of 166 was not issued until 1740.