Many of Piranesi's figure studies are, like this example, on the versi of printed sheets. Some of these, for instance a study of two men from the von Hirsch sale, sold in these Rooms, 4 July 1984, lot 61, which is on the reverse of part of a broadsheet of 1773, can be dated with some precision. In the present instance, Piranesi used what would appear to be part of the an archeological text, with references to the Via Appia

Eunice Williams has pointed to the similarity between this study and the man in the centre of plate 81 of the Veduta Interra dell'Antico Tiempio di Bacco, in Oggi Chiesa di S. Urbano