A drawing of the Virgin and Child enthroned, with St Francis kneeling to the right and an unidentified bishop saint standing to the left. Inscribed on the verso in an early hand, 'fra^co mazoli / overo jeronimo'.

The drawing is adapted from a composition by Parmigianino (in which St Jerome takes the place of the bishop saint here), probably an early idea for the artist's Madonna of the Long Neck. This is known through a chalk study by Parmigianino in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. 6382) and a pen-and-wash drawing by the artist in the British Museum (1978,0304.6, itself formerly attribtuted to Bedoli); and through an early copy (also in the Albertina, inv. 2640) presumably after a lost study by Parmigianino, in which the poses of the Madonna and Child and St Francis, and the forms of the throne and background, are identical to those seen here; that last drawing is also finished in watercolour. 

The watercolour finish of the present sheet may suggest that it was a model made for the approval of a patron. Bedoli's resulting altarpiece emerged in 1989 (Sotheby's, London, 5 July 1989, lot 62; 213 x 140.5 cm), and was again at auction at Sotheby's, London, 7 July 2021, lot 29. 

D. DeGrazia, Correggio and his Legacy, NGA, Washington, D.C., 1984, no. 8.