Francesco Guardi Holding a Sword (recto and verso)
by PONTORMO, Jacopo, Black chalk, 253 x 204 mm
On both sides of this sheet are preliminary drawings for the portrait of the young Florentine Francesco Guardi as a halberdier. Presumably Guardi himself posed for the more finished drawing on the recto, in which he holds the pommel of his sword but not the pole arm of the finished painting.