A Youth Leading a Donkey in a Landscape

The subject of the drawing is enigmatic, but it may illustrate the story of the Good Samaritan. As Parmigianino tended to move between sacred and profane themes with an unusual disregard for convention, however, it is not always easy to identify images like this one with much confidence. The placement of the protagonist in a raking light for dramatic potential might indicate that the artist was intending one of those resonant night scenes he preferred for his paintings, celebrated for a grace and elegance said by contemporaries to rival those of Raphael.