From 1775-1880 David, after winning the prix de Rome, lived in Rome as a student of the French Academy. He dutifully copied sculptures from the Antique, but declared that “it lacks animation, it does not move.” His preferred models were paintings from the 17th century, including Pier Francesco Mola (1612-1666).

The present drawing is a rendering of a figure in Mola’s painting The Conversion of St. Paul in the church of Gesú in Rome.

The drawing was sheet no. 9 in David’s Album no. 10, which was intact until 1958. The album was photographed and then broken up by Germain Seligman. The drawing is recorded in Rosenberg-Prat’s catalogue raisonné of David’s drawings.