Lot Essay
A study for the figure holding a candle on the right of the picture of The bodies of Saint Tiburzio and Saint Valeriano buried by the orders of Saint Cecilia in the Foscari Chapel in the Church of San Nicol dei Tolentini, Venice, S. Mason-Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane, Milan, 1984, no. 462, fig. 688. Palma decorated the Foscari chapel around 1620 with five pictures, all dedicated to Saint Cecilia. The altarpiece was painted by Camillo Procaccini. A compositional pen and wash drawing, with very few differences from the picture other than the absence of a self-portrait, is at Christ Church, Oxford, S. Mason Rinaldi, op. cit., no. D155, fig. 687.