Studies for a Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Rutilio Manetti

1571–1639 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over red chalk (the faint sketch of Saint Joseph and the donkey at left background is entirely in red chalk) · Drawings and Prints

In this robust drawing for his painting now in the Gamäldegalerie of Kassel, Germany, Manetti portrayed the Madonna as a humble down-to-earth mother, giving her infant son something to drink. Although he came under the spell of Caravaggio's dramatic realism, Manetti was at first the pupil of Francesco Vanni (1563-1610), whose fantastically delicate, airborne Virgin Mary is seen at right. Listed by Claus Virch in his catalogue of the Baker collection with a tentative attribution to Annibale Carracci, the drawing was recognized by Philip Pouncey in 1965 as Manetti's study for a painting, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, now in the Gamäldegalerie (repr. Rutilio Manetti 1571-1639, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 1978, p. 81). Another study for this subject, in oil paint on paper, is preserved in the Louvre, it comes from the collection of Pierre-Jean Mariette, who recognized it as the work of Manetti (Inv. 1285).

Artist

Rutilio Manetti

Date

1571–1639

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over red chalk (the faint sketch of Saint Joseph and the donkey at left background is entirely in red chalk)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971