These vibrant figure studies are entirely typical of Carlone's oil sketches (bozzetti), although more often than not he chose canvas rather than paper as a support for such works. An oil sketch of this kind was probably made in preparation for part of a more fully realised painted or frescoed composition, but the present sketch has not been connected with a finished work by Carlone. As a consequence, the identity of the figures represented, who have no distinguishing attributes, is uncertain.