A drawing of five male heads, facing in several different directions. This is a study for the group of men supporting the reliquary containing the blood of S. Gennaro in the right background of the fresco The Eruption of Vesuvius in one of the lunettes in the Cappella del Tesoro in the Duomo, Naples. 

For other studies of this group see RCIN 901373 and RCIN 901374.    
            
In 1631 Domenichino was commissioned to paint a fresco cycle in the Cappella del Tesoro in the Duomo, Naples. The scheme included the painting of the three lunettes: these frescoes represent, on the entrance wall, The Eruption of Vesuvius; on the wall to the right of the entrance, S. Gennaro protects the City of Naples from the Saracens; on the wall to the left of the entrance, S. Gennaro led to Martyrdom.                                                

The lunette of The Eruption of Vesuvius was the first of the frescoes in the chapel to be completed, details of the scene deriving, according to the biographer Giovanni Pietro Bellori, from Domenichino's observations during the eruption of 1631-2. Payment for this lunette and for the lunette of S. Gennaro led to Martyrdom is recorded on 26th November, 1633. These lunettes were probably designed concurrently. The lunette of S. Gennaro protects the City of Naples from the Saracens was completed by 12th March, 1637.