The Roman painter Cesare Mariani was a pupil of Giovanni Silvagni at the Accademia di San Luca* in Rome, and completed his training with an apprenticeship in the studio of Tommaso Minardi. He started working as an independent artist around 1850, and the following year one of his paintings was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.

Although he began his career as a painter of genre scenes, with which he achieved some success, Mariani soon established a particular reputation as a fresco painter, often working on a large scale in churches, palaces and public buildings. Between 1857 and 1860 he painted frescoes for the newly-rebuilt church of San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome, followed by a huge fresco...