Study for the Apostles and the Virgin Mary from the Descent of the Holy Spirit

This drawing is a preparatory study for a fresco in the Church of St Sigismund in Cremona. It depicts a detail of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, who are gazing upwards to the Dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The space in which the scene occurs is an important detail. The artist placed the figures before a colonnade that frames the scene. Campi found inspiration for this spatial organization in Mantua, where he lived and worked in 1552–1553. He based his work on the fresco created by Mantegna in Camera degli Sposi and the paintings of Giulio Romano at the Palazzo del Te.