The drawing corresponds with a figure (Giulio Ascanio Boiardo?) playing a flute, in a small octagonal painting of a concert, formerly in the ceiling of a room in the Castello di Scandiano, and now in the Gallerie Estense, Modena (inv. 493; Nicolo dell'Abate, exh. cat. 2005, no. 51). The walls of the room featured scenes from the Aeneid; cf. RCIN 906318.

The drawing appears to be the same size as the figure in the painting, and this may therefore be a fragment of a cartoon for the painting, though the technique is unusually elaborate for a cartoon. See W. Bombe, Bollettino d'Arte, X, 1930-31, p. 542. RCINs 912996-7 are other fragments from the same composition; a further fragment is in Edinburgh, NGS RSA 709, and two more were sold from the Woodner collection, Christie's 7 July 1992, lots 12-13.