Left Half of a Wall Decoration for a Chapel

This drawing contains the design for the decoration scheme for the wall of a chapel or church with an altar at center. A similar sheet showing the right half of the scheme was formerly in the collection of Lodewijk Houthakker. That sheet contains the signature of the artist, Francesco Ferrari. The two halves were undoubtedly once part of the same large presentation drawing that was later cut. Together they show that the wall was symmetrically arranged with a door on either side of the central altar. The Houthakker sheet further shows an arched pediment above the altar. Each sheet has a later inscription that appears to identify the location for which the design was intended. The inscription on the Houthakker sheet is in English and refers to a Capella Tolomei in Ferrara. The inscription on the Met's drawing, instead, is in Italian and reads "Capella di collegio Tolomei". Based on the link to Ferrara, Peter Fuhring has suggested that the scheme was designed for a chapel dedicated to St. Tolomei in the church of San Giorgio in Ferrara. The use of the word "collegio" could alternatively imply that the design was intended for the main chapel in the Colleggio Tolomei, founded in Siena in 1676 based on the stipulations of Celso Tolomei (1572-1634).