Design for an altar with an inset depicting Christ questioning the doctors in the temple.

John Talman (1677-1726) was the son of the celebrated architect William Talman. From about 1698 he was employed by his father to help assemble material for his extensive collection of architectural drawings, prints and books. A keen traveller, he went to the Continent twice in search of acquisitions. He visited the northern Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy, and he made numerous watercolour copies of altarpieces and churches in Rome.

Talman was back in England in 1715. He was a founder-member of the Tavern Society, London, which later became the Society of Antiquaries, and he was appointed its first director. Like his father, Talman believed in the elevating purpose of art and in the use of art collections for the public good. Although his will indicates that he had wanted his vast collection (which contained over 32,000 prints and drawings), to go to Trinity College, Cambridge, he later changed his mind and instructed that it should be sold for the benefit of his children. A portion of the collection was nonetheless given outright to the Society of Antiquaries, who acquired further items from the auction in London on 19 April 1727.

This drawing is part of an album in the V&A collections that contain drawings made by Talman and other artists. Talman intended to publish it for the benefit and enjoyement of a wider public.