Giuseppe Cesari, Il Cavaliere d'Arpino (Arpino 1568-1640 Rome)

A study for a picture in the Cappella Aldobrandini, Santa Maria in Via, Rome (see H. Röttgen, 2013, op. cit., p. 115). Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini commissioned this picture and the frescoes in the chapel which according to Luisa Mortari Arpino completed between 1 August 1594 and 13 February 1596 (H. Röttgen, op. cit., 1973, no. 102).

There are two copies of this drawing with minor differences, one in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf (inv. no. FP321), the other in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (inv. no. 24404). The sheet in Düsseldorf corresponds stylistically with a group of drawings attributed to Muzio Cesari, Giuseppe's older brother.