18th Century Roman School , A Palazzo With Antiques, Drawing

18th Century Roman School 
A Palazzo with antiques
Brown ink and pen, brown ink wash on paper
12.5 x 20 cm
Framed : 28,5 x 35.5 

This nice drawing represents a genre scene, with a nobleman, priests, a mother and her children in the middle of ancient sculptures, all in a Roman palazzo setting.
One can easily recognise the large sculptures, the Nile in the foreground, but also the Laocoon in the background on the right and the Apollo of Belvedere on the left. They were already very famous at the time and were kept in the Vatican. 
The architecture of the Palazzo may be reminiscent of the Courtyard of the Octagon, formerly known as the Courtyard of Statues, which housed the first set of classical antiquities in the papal collections. It was here that Pope Julius II della Rovere (1502-1513) displayed his extraordinary collection of ancient sculptures, which aimed to bring the Rome of the Caesars to life in the Rome of the Popes. 
But the setting does not match exactly and it is more likely that this is an imaginary view in which the artist shows a remarkable sense of humour and fantasy.