This and the companion drawing sold at Christie's, London 9 December 1982, lot 28, illustrated, are studies for the fresco decorations in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani commissioned by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese for the Palazzo Farnese, Rome. The room, situated in the centre of the piano nobile, was an important reception room and the frescoes glorified the Farnese family. The frescoes were probably begun in the late 1550s and following the death of Salviati in 1563, the work was continued by Taddeo and finally Federico Zuccaro. The frescoes, whose programme was probably devised by Onofrio Panvino (1530-68), precedes the similar cycle of frescoes at Caprarola painted by Taddeo for Alessandro Farnese. The drawing probably represents Ottavio Farnese's defence of Parma against Papal and Imperial forces in 1551-2 which was replaced with a politically less sensitive scene of Pope Eugenius IV making Ranuccio Farnese Papal commander. The frescoes contrast the two kinds of Farnese achievement - religious and military service. Each scene was framed by painted Corinthian columns, as shown in the present drawing, and lit, as in the room itself, from the right. The Palazzo Farnese and the Caprarola cycles show the fierce competition between Ranuccio and Alessandro to present themselves as the worthiest heirs of the Farnese tradition