A Life Study: a Monk Sleeping against a Pile of Books

Rutilio Manetti was the leading artist in Siena in the early seventeenth century. He was trained by Francesco Vanni and from Vanni learned an admiration for the work of the Carracci family in Bologna-above all the practice of basing paintings upon drawn studies of live models. Manetti was also, however, the first artist in Siena to emulate Caravaggio's still more radical naturalism. These multiple influences are all manifest in this large and impressive study, clearly drawn from a young model posing in the studio. The drawing is a study for Manetti's altarpiece of The Ecstasy of the Blessed Ambrogio Patrizi in Monteciano. Although there are some minor changes from drawing to painting, Manetti's altarpiece includes a depiction of Patrizi unmistakably based on this drawing: in monastic robes, reclining against a stack of books, atop a straw mat.