The drawing is an accurate and sensitive copy after Michelangelo’s Tityus (RCIN 912771), one of the ‘presentation drawings’ that Michelangelo gave to his friend Tommaso de’ Cavalieri in 1532-33. Its closeness of touch to the original suggests that it was made directly from Michelangelo's original, probably by tracing around the outlines, while it was still in Cavalieri's possession.

Unlike most drawings of this type, it has not been attributed to Giulio Clovio; instead it may be by the Florentine painter Agnolo Bronzino, who visited Rome in 1548, and may have made other short trips to the city (see P. Joannides, Michelangelo and his Influence, 1996, no. 13; attribution to Bronzino by E. Pilliod). The technique of this drawing bears some similarities to that of the few drawings certainly by Bronzino;  it is more even-toned and less vigorous that the drawings of Bronzino's pupil Allori, who made several copies after Michelangelo's more finished drawings (eg. RCIN 990419; see S. Buck, Michelangelo's Dream, 2010, p. 116). Another copy of the Tityus in the Uffizi (248F), very similar in handling, was attributed to Bronzino in the nineteenth century, subsequently transferred to Alessandro Allori (1535-1607) and more recently to Francesco Morandini, called Il Poppi (c. 1544-97). 

Inscribed at right angles to the top margin, ‘sei / cinque’; at the bottom to the right, ‘Del...’.