The present drawing is a study for the figure flanking the composition of the Preaching of Saint John painted on the third bay, over the right hand aisle, of the vault of the Church of Saint John in Valletta, Malta. Each of the twelve bays, depicting the life of Saint John the Baptist, is framed by an architectural surround with atlantes on each side. The present drawing shows a spectator clinging on to one of these in an attempt to see the Baptist preaching.
A drawing in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, shows the same figure, grabbing the side figure with another onlooker, K.T. Parker, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Italian School, Oxford, 1956, no. 928, pl. CCI.
Mattia Preti worked in the church of Saint John between 1661 and 1666. Another drawing related to this commission, from the collection of Trude and Richard Krautheimer, was sold at Christie's, New York, 12 January 1996, lot 60, illustrated.