A Man in a White Domino Seen from Behind

A study of a man seen from behind wearing a white domino costume, ornamented in pink, with a black collar and hat. The costume was generally worn with a mask by Venetians during carnival and its name derives from the ecclesiastical saying, "Benedicamus Domino" (let us praise the Lord) as a kind of mockery of the sacred clothes of the Prelates. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions. This figure reappears for example in the centre foreground of The Entry of the British Ambassador, the Count of Manchester, into the Palazzo Ducale now in the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham (inv. P 3649).