The drawing refers to a well-known painting, now preserved in Great Britain (National Trust of Wilthshire Wilthshire, National Trust), in which Carlo Maratti, a famous exponent of the Roman Baroque, is portrayed in the act of drawing the portrait of the nobleman Nicolò Maria Pallavicino . The latter, a wealthy Genoese banker who settled in Rome, is represented as he is entering Arcadia, welcomed by Apollo and awaited by the personifications of the Virtues. In this way, the client wanted to celebrate his appointment as Honorary Academic in the prestigious Accademia di San Luca, a historic artistic institution. He was the cousin of the Pallavicinos who owned the Palazzo at the end of the seventeenth century, to whom the drawing belonged. Documented by the sources in this building, it was sold in the 19th century, but the purchase of the sheet by the State in 2000 allowed it to be exhibited again in the house where it historically was.