A preparatory study for a fresco in the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, Seville, A.E. Perez Sànchez and L. Boubli, Dessins espagnols, Maîtres du XVIe et XVII siècles, exhib. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1991, fig. 25. The cycle of six frescoes of trompe-l'oeil tapestries on the theme of the triumph of spiritual over temporal power, was commissioned from Valdés Leal between 1682 and 1684. Owing to his illness, and then death, the cycle was left uncompleted. It was finished by his son Lucas, who worked from his father's drawings.
A preparatory drawing by Juan for the same composition, though without the decorative frame, is in the Louvre, A.E. Pérez Sánchez and L. Boulbi, op. cit., no. 101, illustrated. The Louvre composition is exactly the same as the fresco. The main difference between this drawing and the fresco is that the Emperor is seen facing the spectator and looking at Hondius, Bishop of Cordoba, and the two other priests, whereas in this study he is seen from the back. This difference suggests that the present study predates that in the Louvre.
The decorative design framing the present drawing was painted without any changes by Lucas. A drawing also related to a fresco from this cycle, in a Swiss private collection, op. cit., fig. 26, includes a decorative frame very close to the one in this drawing, with the painted tapestry similarly curling at the edges.