Venus in the forge of Vulcan

In 1643 Bernardino Curti published an engraving which shows the composition of the present drawing in reverse. Curti's print was described as a copy of a picture by Annibale Carracci, formerly in the collection of Paolo Coccapani, Bishop of Reggio, but the picture's attribution was questioned by Malvasia, who argued that in fact it was by Sisto Badalocchio (C. Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice, Bologna, 1841, vol. I, p. 88). No further record of the picture is known. Professor Carel van Tuyll has noted that this drawing is stylistically closer to Badalocchio's draughtsmanship than to Annibale's, that in his opinion Malvasia was correct, and that both the drawing and the lost picture are in fact by Badalocchio (private communication to the present owner).