Study for a Figure of Balaam (recto) and Study for a Right Arm (verso), 1682-1683, Carlo Maratti, Italian, (Roman), 1625 - 1713, 16 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (42.55 x 27.31 cm) (image)19 7/8 x 14 1/4 in. (50.48 x 36.2 cm) (set into border), Red chalk on blue laid paper, Italy, 17th century, Carlo Maratti, arguably the preeminent painter in Rome in the late 17th century, executed this sheet of studies while designing mosaics for the Chapel of the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in St. Peter's. This boldly drawn male figure seated on clouds is the Old Testament prophet Balaam, who adorns one of the chapel's pendentives, that is, a triangular area beneath the dome. Maratti executed countless drawings for this important papal commission; at least eight extant studies can be associated with Balaam. In this one, Maratti focused on the figure's active pose, which would change very little in subsequent studies and in the final mosaic, and on the back of the sheet, he worked out Balaam's pointing hand g