This bold and dramatic drawing, illustrating God the Father handing the Ten Commandments to Moses, is stylistically comparable to works by Campagnola, executed early in his career, around 1517-20.

The subject of Moses receiving the tablets of the law appears frequently throughout medieval art, but was not so prominent in Italy in the 15^th and 16^th centuries and was often relegated to the background landscapes of larger compositions. It is possible that Campagnola’s composition may derive from a relief sculpture by Pietro di Niccolo Lamberti, on the capital of a column, located on the north-west corner of the Palazzo Ducale, Venice (fig. 1). Campagnola’s positioning of his figures, close and horizontal to the picture frame, is suggestive of bas-relief design.

Interestingly, whilst the drawing is of considerable size and careful execution, which might lead to the conclusion that it was made as a finished work in its own right, the faint squaring in black chalk actually suggests that it was a study for a larger image, most likely painted.