Putto Lifting Curtain (recto); Infant St. John (verso)

Art Historical Context

This delicate double-sided drawing, in the style of the Baroque master Mattia Preti (3–1699), the artist's flair for dynamic figures and emotional expressiveness. On the rect, a playful putto—a chubby infant angel common in Baroque decoration—lifts a curtain, suggesting a theatrical reveal or glimpse into a sacred scene. The verso features the Infant St. John the Baptist, rendered with tender vulnerability, evoking devotional themes central to Counter-Reformation art. Preti, influenced by Caravaggio's dramatic tenebrism, often explored such motifs in his grand frescoes and altarpieces across I...