Works on Paper 2019 - Jean Luc Baroni

assistant dressed in a cowl and then changed it
to the Augustinian habit in the painting. Manetti’s
increasing naturalism and interest in bold lighting
and still life detail can be seen also in the well-known
painting of the Ecstasy of Mary Magdalen, dated to
circa 1620, versions of which are in the Galleria
Pallatina, Florence, and the church of Sant’Eustache
in Paris 6 . In these two works, the saint is represented
in her last moments of life, lying horizontally along
the picture plane, depicted with the same striking
naturalistic effect.
To this day, the study of the artist’s draughtsmanship
is still lacking, an incongruity Pierre-Jean Mariette
already lamented in his Abecedario: “he deserves
to be better known than he is; he was exceptionally
graceful in composition and the expression of his
heads.” 7 . This keen admirer of the 18 th century,
whose collection included Manetti’s beautiful oil
on paper representing The Flight into Egypt, now in
the Louvre (Inv. 1285), and drawings by Vanni and
Salimbeni, must have seen the value of his graphic
technique showing the influence of his Sienese
heritage and the naturalistic developments in Rome
and in Bologna.