Among the group of drawings by the Bolognese master Marcantonio (I648-1729), in the collection at Cooper Union, are several especially worthy of note.' Five of these items are related to one of the artist's most important enterprises, the fresco cycle illustrating events from the life of St. Catherine dei Vigri, in the convent church, the Corpus Domini, of the order of Santa Caterina dei Vigri in Bologna. This ensemble of frescoes is among the most ambitious in scope of later seventeenth century church decoration in Italy and did much to establish Franceschini's reputation as a decorator of exceptional authority and refinement of taste (Fig. 9).2 Franceschini's account book, preserved in the Biblioteca Comunale at Bologna, records the contract for the work in the Corpus Domini in an entry dated November 28, I689.' The commission occupied the artist and his assistants, Luigi Quaini and the quadraturista Enrico Haffner, periodically until 1696 when the work was completed with the monumental scene on the entrance wall which depicted the Apparition of Christ and the Virgin to St. Catherine. Two of the drawings at Cooper Union, a St. Catherine Receiving the Christ Child and St. Catherine Playing the Violin, appear to be modelli for portions of these decorations which did not survive the heavy damage that the Corpus Domini sustained in I943 (Figs. 3 and 4).4 They correspond to two of five cartoons, preserved in the Opera del Duomo at Orvieto, which were used for the series of frescoes in grisaille in the vault of the Corpus Domini. These accompanied the scenes of the Saint's Assumption and Apotheosis in full color in the cupola and vault of the nave. The remaining three cartoons related to the series of frescoes in grisaille are St. Catherine Painting, Joseph Appearing to St. Catherine and the Disinterment of the Body of St. Catherine.5 While none of these frescoes has survived, the latter two subjects can be seen in old photographs showing general views of the church interior. The Joseph Appearing to St. Catherine is visible in the last bay of the vault, in the view of the church which is published here (Fig. 9) and the Disinterment of the Body of St. Catherine can be seen in the bay over the High Altar, in the view looking in the opposite direction. Regarding the date for the drawings at Cooper Union related to these grisaille frescoes, it is not possible to place them more specifically within the 16901696 period as none of the entries in the account book relative to the work in the Corpus Domini specify these scenes in grisaille. Two squared drawings signed along the bottom me Marco Anto Franceschini depict commemorative monuments flanked respectively by female allegorical figures of Mu ificence and Magnificence, Heart and Glory (Figs. I a d 2). They are studies for portions of the Corpus Domini decorations which still exist. The frescoes in grisaille, seen on either lateral wall of t e left transept, were apparently in large part executed by Luigi Quaini from cartoons prepared by Franceschini. In his account book, in a section at the back specifically set aside for a record of money given to Quaini for his assistance on various occasions, they are r ferred o as Le due memorie di chiaro scuro.