Brown stains. Watermark: Cross-bow (close to Briquet 768, Heywood 1608)
Numbered at lower right in pen and brown ink: 885 (Sparre) and I.
Verso inscription: The contract: Io Guido Reni afermo questo...il disegno/del santo fato tra le (veren]de Madri di S. Matia.../lo fra...confermo/ Io sor diodata...priora in Sa. Mathia/ Io sor cinthia Locatelli al presente sindica di Sa. Mathia/ Io suor Livia Garicendi detta Guastanilani/ Io suor Faustina Bolognetti.
According to Mariette, this drawing was a study for a painting in the church of S. Dominic in Bologna. The painting in the apse of "S. Domenico" is, however, quite different. As Pepper has shown the drawing clearly represents a lost altarpiece by Reni for the church of "S. Mattia", Bologna, executed c. 1598-99. There exists an engraving by Claude Vignon after the painting which is mentioned by Malvasia. Malvasia, however, does not mention the picture in this guidebook of 1686, "La pittura di Bologna". Birke wrongly suggests that the drawing represents the lost painting of "The Vision of St. Hyacinth" intended for the Garisendi altar, S. Mattia.[Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1614]