This watercolour is a copy made by Eduard Kaiser (Graz 1820 – Vienna 1895) after the Supper of St Dominic and Crucifixion with Saints in the Convento di San Marco in Florence by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani (1492 – 1544). It was painted for the Arundel Society, founded in 1848 to promote knowledge of art through the publication of reproductions of works of art. The Arundel Society popularised Renaissance art, particularly that of the Italian Old Masters, echoing a growing interest for ‘primitives’ (art of western Europe prior to the Renaissance) in the second half of the nineteenth century. This watercolour was published as a chromolithograph in 1884 (see Museum no. 29928).

Giovanni Antonio Sogliani was primarily active in Florence. He was a follower of Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517), whose frescoes he probably saw at the Convento di San Marco. Here, Sogliani painted the Supper of St. Dominic in 1536, which was previously attributed to Fra Bartolomeo. Sogliani’s style seems antiquated compared to other Renaissance artists however, according to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574, author of the Lives of the most excellent painters), it was suggested by the Dominican patrons.