Carpaccio is one the earliest Venetian artists whose drawings exist in any substantial manner. He sketched mostly heads, figures, and compositional studies with chalk and wash on blue paper. These studies of a youth in armor appear to have been done after a model. Carpaccio drew the figure as it would appear astride a horse. He also made detailed studies of the helmet and its lining rivets and, at lower left, the elbow defense. The indication of a spear in the youth's right hand suggests the drawing served as a study for a painting of Saint George fighting the dragon, though it differs from the version Carpaccio made for the Scuola degli Schiavoni about 1507.

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