Studies for a Rest on the Flight into Egypt

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).