A drawing of Christ amid classical architecture, surrounded by figures. Annotated by the artist with letters that are presumably colour indications. On the verso (visible in transmitted light) is a fine pen-and-wash study, probably of a standing angel. Inscribed on the verso 'del Caracci'(?) 

As with RCIN 906325, the composition corresponds with a painting in the vault of the Loggia of Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, r.1572-85) in the Vatican. Giorgio Vasari and Lorenzo Sabatini led a decorating campaign of the Sala Regia, the Sala Ducale and the Cappella Paolina in the first half of the 1570s, also involving Raffaellino da Reggio, Cesare Nebbia, Paris Nogari etc. Jacob Hess (Illustrazione Vaticana, 1936) attempted to distinguish the hands responsible for the various paintings of the Loggia; he suggested that Christ teaching in the Synagogue was by Paris Nogari, though it is almost imposible to distinguish the different contributors to this scheme, and a designation of 'circle of Raffaellino da Reggio' is perhaps as precise as one can be. Popham (in P&W) proposed that the two drawings are copies after the paintings, though they have more of the look of original studies.