Figures (Mars and Minerva?) seated on the steps of a classical building, other figures in a landscape beyond. The drawing is preparatory for an engraving by Spierre, the frontispiece for the thesis of Carlo Spinelli (b.1634) on the faculties of the soul. The engraving is entitled in the banderole held by the flying putti EDVCENT BENE CVLTA ROSAS and signed Franciscus Spier inue et sculp. See B. Ciuffa, François Spierre, Rome 2021, no. V.2.1.

The drawing is inscribed di Monsù spierre and was catalogued in Blunt (French) as by Spierre, but in Blunt (Misc) an attribution to Ciro Ferri was advanced, as the model for Spierre's engraving. The style is close to Ferri's but not convincingly so, and the 'invenit' on the print justifies the early ascription to Spierre himself.