A drawing of Alexander the Great, in 'Persian' dress, with a putto and cuirass. Inscribed by the artist 'Alesandro magno con la corza ai piedi e ū chupido che aquela scherzi in torno labito dalesandro sara longo alla p(er)siana molle e lasivo’ (‘Alexander the Great with his cuirass at his feet and with a cupid who plays around it. The dress of Alexander is to be long, in the Persian fashion, soft and feminine’). See another study of the same subject at RCIN 905002; the two were likely designs for the same project, but the higher level of finish here, and the white chalk squaring visible on the present sheet, suggests it was ultimately the design carried out.

This drawing is one of a set of nine in the Royal Collection depicting emperors and ancient kings: two other sheets show Alexander the Great, others depict the Emperors Vitellius, Julius Caesar and Vespasian, Attila the Hun, King Shapur of Persia and King David (RCINs 904994–905002). As with the present sheet, Farinati shows these figures standing in niches or plinths, or seated on architectural elements, suggesting that they were intended to be painted to appear as fictive statues, integrated into painted interior decoration schemes. They may have been intended to be painted as the decoration of a library. Similar drawings of significant figures integrated within architectural settings: Emperor Antoninus Pius in the Ashmolean, Oxford (Parker, 1956, cat no.222); of Mithridates, King of Pontus, in the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. no.: D 1598); of the Emperor Nero in Christ Church, Oxford (Byam Shaw, 1976, cat. no. 787) and the Emperor Vitellius, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (inv. no.: 1975.71.3).

The Royal Collection holds forty-seven sheets by Farinati and his followers. 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, in which this sheet was housed.The album contained RCINs 904973 – 905026, with other sheets by Farinati housed in a miscellaneous album. These volumes were subsequently broken up and the drawings were mounted separately.