Its raftsman protagonist fends off death and damnation in the form of "a shark that kept circling" (9), mirroring Mary's own fear of sex-related sin and mortality.
(10) / Rondani's development as a d raftsman is largely obscure, yet in 1994 David Ekserdjian convincingly identified a red chalk study (once given to Correggio) as a preliminary design by Rondani for his signed altarpiece.