Pietro Saja studied at the Naples Accademia di Belli Arti under the German artist Tischbein. In 1803 he left for Rome where he became member of the Accademia di San Luca, and in 1816 he was appointed Professor at the Naples Academy.
The present drawing is dated 1798 when Saja was studying with Tischbein. In view of the size and finish it was possibly drawn as one of the sheets submitted each year to the Academy to gauge the progress of the students