Saint Agatha

This sculptural study of the Early Christian martyr Agatha belonged to the British connoisseur Philip Pouncey, who first recognized it as by Muziano. Its highly polished, almost Michelangilesque technique recalls the manner of Daniele da Volterra, with whom Muziano collaborated at the Vatican on his arrival in Rome in the mid-1550s – as argued by Patrizia Tosini (Girolamo Muziano. Dalla maniera alla natura, Rome 2008, pp. 48, 321) – and closely relates to other early Roman drawings by the artist, like the Deposition in the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome (inv. FC124253; see S. Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, The Famous Italian Drawings from the Gabinetto Nazionale of Rome, Cinisello Balsamo 1980, no. 23, ill.).