Tischbein made this drawing in Rome on his first trip to Italy (1779–1781). He studied under the Swiss sculptor Alexander Trippel, but he also made numerous drawings after the High Renaissance masters including this dramatic example. The artist focusses on the head of one of the executioners in a famous tapestry showing 'The Massacre of the Innocents', part of a set which is hung in the Vatican. The head, full of murderous intent, would have been at the artist’s eye level. The subject was probably designed by Giulio Romano, Raphael’s best-known pupil, and this was undoubtedly the attraction for the young artist.