In the middle and left are the ruins of the so-called 'Domus Augustiana', to the right the colonnades in front of the palace of Septimus Severus. This is part of a series of small drawings of Roman ruins, some of which were later used for the series of etchings 'Verscheyden vervallen gebouwen soo binnen als buyten Romen', published in 1640 after the artist's return to Holland. A larger drawing of the same subject dated 1635, probably based on the present lot, is in the Fondation Custodia, Institut Néerlandais, Paris (Roethlisberger, op.cit., no. 140). The background was used, in reverse, for Breenbergh's picture of the Martyrdom of St. Stephanus, dated 1632.
As Michiel Plomp has kindly confirmed, the partly copped inscription on the verso is by Jan de Bisschop. This relates the present lot to other drawings by Breenbergh bearing his inscription which Plomp will publish in a forthcoming article in 'Antiek'