The subject of this work has never been positively identified. It might be a sketch--or at least an early idea--for Schiavone's Christ Healing the Paralytic etching, with which it shares some basic details, such as the angel flying across the top of the composition. Whatever the subject, the brush drawing technique used for the drawing is one that is distinct to Venice and finds parallels in the work of Tintoretto and of his followers, including Domenico Tintoretto and Palma Giovane. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"
Old inscription at lower left, now obliterated.
Watermark: Anchor inside circle, fragment.
Moscardo family, former owner.
Calceolari, Marquis de, former owner.
Uzielli, Mario, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, no. 6, fig. 13, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 276.
Oberhuber, Konrad, and Dean Walker. Sixteenth Century Italian Drawings From the Collection of János Scholz. Washington, D.C. : National Gallery of Art ; New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973, no. 102, repr. (includes previous bibliography and exhibitions).
Scholz 1957, no. 20.