Study of Four Saints (Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and Zeno)

Andrea Mantegna made this drawing as a preparatory study for the left side panel of an altarpiece, still in the church of San Zeno in Verona, which he painted between 1456 and 1459. Although the drawing is highly finished, it was evidently made at an early stage of the design, since Mantegna subsequently changed the saints' positions. From left to right, the four saints are Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and Zeno. Saint Zeno, the patron and titular saint of Verona, wears a mitre, a bishop's liturgical headgear.