Signed with monogram PAN. This watercolour study is a fine example of Novelli’s accomplished draughtsmanship. Executed in his typically spirited style, this was likely to be a preparatory study for an as-yet unidentified commission. The Madonna of Loreto is depicted standing on a house symbolising the Santa Casa of the Holy Family which, according to local legend, had been carried to Loreto by angels in the year 1291, when the Saracens were driving the Crusaders out of the Holy Land. The attributes of the Saint on the right suggest that he is Saint Stanislaus Kostka (1550-1568), the son of an aristocratic Polish family who became a Jesuit novice who is often depicted with a lily and the infant Jesus. The figure on the left is most likely Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556) who was a Spanish knight who founded the Jesuits. After being seriously wounded in the Battle of Pamplona in 1521, he underwent a spiritual conversion after experiencing a vision of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus while at the shrine of the Madonna of Loreto in March 1522.

Much of what we know about the life of Pietro Antonio Novelli comes from his memoirs, published posthumously in 1834. Novelli was born in Venice in 1729, and trained under the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Pittoni, although he was also much influenced by his contemporaries Francesco Guardi and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. In 1768, he was accepted as a member of the Accademia in Venice for which he painted an Allegory of the Arts. During the 1770s Novelli produced numerous altarpieces and frescoes throughout Northern Italy for the Church and nobility, and his patrons included Catherine the Great. In 1779 he settled in Rome where he remained until the end of the century before returning to Venice. Novelli is best known for his works on paper and produced a remarkable number of preparatory drawings for paintings and altarpieces. Similar studies can be found in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Art Institute of Chicago and The Courtauld Gallery, London.