Thoughts on this Old Master Style drawing?

It's a little tiny thing, about 3.5" x 7". Is this Italian, and how old is it? It's giving me pause because although it's on laid paper and the paper is soiled, it's not that dark yellowed, aged look like you would expect, and the ink is black and not brown.
Any thoughts on this?

 

r u sure it's hand drawn ?

 

That paper almost looks like linen,doesnt it ?

 

it does have a handmade look.
I don't like the bleed through.....it seems inconsistent for a hand drawn work.

 

BUT......that could be the paper,

 

Frame it importantly, title it "Rembrant at the Forge," and act discreetly devious!

 

The sword is called a falchion (not that that helps). Any watermark in the paper?

 

I haven't looked for a watermark. It looks like it's hand drawn....not a print.

 

If you hold the paper up to the light you may see a maker's mark embedded in it. It's a long shot, but it may be possible to identify and date the paper. It's no reflection on the nature of the image.

This etching of York Minster is on water marked paper:


This is the watermark in the paper which, as you can see, has everything to do with the paper and nothing to do with the image:

 

Yes, I know what a watermark is. Just checked and there wasn't one. However on the top right corner there is written "L8" and at the bottom right corner there is a "16". Don't know what that means. Check out the markings...I see them a lot on old drawings but don't really know what they signify.

 

Those look like pencil written marks. Probably only relevant to whoever wrote them. Is the 16 written on the back of the print, or on those 2 attached bits that look like hinge remnants to me.

Are you not amused because of what I posted?

 

Oh, you mean "Ho Dickinson"?

 

I'm not really sure. (It's Hodgkinson & Co.) Is that post why your mood setting is "not amused"?

 

Oh, hahaha, no! I'm perpetually not amused. I leave that as my mood all the time. It's not you, I promise!

 

Good to know. I tend to be a glass-half-empty kind of guy.

 

Well, moontymes, I'm perpetually amused ... It's good to interact with all of the people who come to this forum.

 

Come to think of it, I actually *do* get amused. But I just like that mood/avatar because I tend to be sarcastic IRL.

 

Maybe try out the sarcastic avatar....

 

I like the side eyes of the one I've got!
Anyway, back to the drawing, don't want to get off track. Anyone else have any ideas about this one?

 

I don't think there's much to say about the drawing. It could have been done anytime over a period of hundreds of years, and pretty much anywhere. Best hope for dating is if someone has an opinion on the ink. The paper could be a clue, but new drawings can be done on old paper.

For a guy wielding a sword, he seems to have a rather insouciant air.