Giovanni Andrea Sirani was the principal assistant of Guido Reni and remained faithful to his master’s classicising style after Reni’s death. This drawing corresponds closely with an altarpiece painted by Sirani for the church of Santi Ludovico ed Alessio, Bologna. It is possible, however, that it is not a study for the altarpiece, but a record of the design by Sirani’s daughter Elisabetta, who worked closely with her father and who was famed throughout Europe before her early death. No. 142