Before moving to the French court, Abate specialised in decorative schemes on pastoral, courtly and literary themes. This drawing illustrates a passage from Matteo Maria Boiardo’s verse-romance Orlando innamorato. On entering a palace, the hero Brandimarte was challenged to open a tomb and to kiss whatever emerged. Out of the tomb came a dragon, but when Brandimarte plucked up the courage to kiss the dragon it turned into a fairy. No. 44