A drawing of a heavily-built man in classical robes, holding a staff, his left arm outstretched.

His features conform to the standard type of the Roman Emperor Vitellius, possibly known to Farinati through a plaster copy of the antique bust of Vitellius brought to Venice by Cardinal Domenico Grimani in 1523; displayed in the Palazzo Ducale from 1525 to 1593, the Grimani Vitellius became an important reference point for sixteenth-century artists (cf. RCIN 906702, 990837; see S. Bailey in Getty Museum Journal V (1997) for an overview of the many drawings and paintings based on the bust).

The drawing is one of a set of nine depicting emperors and ancient kings by Farinati in the Royal Collection: others show the Emperors Julius Caesar and Vespasian, Alexander the Great (three drawings), Attila the Hun, King David and King Shapur (RCINs 904995–905002). Shown standing in niches or on plinths, or seated on architectural elements, the drawings may have been intended as painted decorative cycles for libraries, rooms which were traditionally furnished with portraits of significant rulers. Similar drawings in other collections include Emperor Antoninus Pius in the Ashmolean, Oxford (Parker 222); Mithridates, King of Pontus, in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. D1598); Emperor Nero in Christ Church, Oxford (Byam Shaw 787); and another Vitellius in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (inv.  1975.71.3). It is unclear whether the Washington Vitellius and the present sheet were designs for the same project.  

Inscribed in the lower right corner in an eighteenth-century hand: ‘P. Farinato’. The Royal Collection holds forty-seven sheets by Farinati and his followers, and it is probable that most, if not all, were acquired during the reign of Charles II. A list of albums at Kensington Palace in 1727 includes one volume of drawings by Farinati and his followers, containing RCINs 904973–905026, with other sheets by Farinati housed in a miscellaneous album.