Allegorical Figure of the City of Piacenza, for a Pendentive in the Chapel of Saint-Roch, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris (recto); Studies for the Same Figure (verso). Artist: Alexandre Denis Abel de Pujol (French, Valenciennes 1785-1861 Paris). Dimensions: Sheet: 11 13/16 x 9 1/2 in. (30 x 24.2cm). Date: 1821.The compositional shape of this preparatory drawing reflects the destination of the finished work: a pendentive--the triangular section of vaulting where a dome connects to supporting arches below--in a chapel devoted to Saint Roch in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. As an allegory of Piacenza, she represents one of four Italian cities saved from the plague by the saint in the early fourteenth century. Hands clasped in prayer, she gazes up in veneration to the Apotheosis of Saint Roch depicted on the ceiling of the chapel above. The slight angle at which the drawing is squared suggests a minor adjustment required in the positioning of the figure when transferred to the next p