Carlo Monaldi was one of the principal sculptors working in Rome – as well as in Portugal at the Real Basílica de Mafra - during the first half of the 18th century. His style can be described as the Roman Barocchetto, which distinguished itself with graceful lightness of masses, lively drapery and supple lines, in a sort of pre-Roccoco flowering of the freest and most delicate tendencies from the Berninian tradition.

Between 1743-4 Monaldi was commissioned by cardinal Angelo Maria Quirini to execute for the nave of the Basilica of San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio - in Palazzo Venezia, Rome - six over life-size reliefs depicting scenes from the New Testament. The result was a harmonious and lyrical blend of Roman Baroque dynamism and 18^th century delicacy.

The polychrome terracotta panel presented here for the first time is the model for the third relief on the right hand side of the nave from the entrance depicting the Calling of St. Matthew - the moment when Jesus Christ called on Matthew to become one of his disciples (Gospel of Matthew 9:9).