* Rutilio Manetti Siena bapt 1571 - 1639

Possibly the Chigi family (the frame is of a type associated with the Chigi collection);
With P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., London, 1969 (as Francesco Vanni);
From whom purchased by Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913-1994);
His deceased sale, New York, Christie's, January 10, 1996, lot 95, where acquired by the present collector.

London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., Paintings by Old Masters, October 21 - November 7, 1969, no. 8 (as Francesco Vanni).

Paintings by Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., October 21 - November 7, 1969, cat. no. 8, reproduced plate VI (as Francesco Vanni);
A. Bagnoli, in L'Arte a Siena sotto i Medici, exhibition catalogue, Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, May 3 - September 15, 1980, p. 176;
P. Di Mambro, in L. Bianchi & D. Giunta, Iconografia di S. Caterina da Siena. I. L'immagine, Siena 1988, pp. 438-9, no. 435;
J. Pope-Hennessy, Learning to Look, New York 1991, p. 315.

This painting was long thought to be by Francesco Vanni and it was not until the exhibition in Siena in 1980 that it was properly reattributed to Vanni's pupil Rutilio Manetti; an opinion reiterated by Prof. Alessandro Bagnoli when the painting was sold at auction in 1996 (see Literature, 1980, where Bagnoli describes it as being "di affettuosa e delicata intimità"). The 17th-century art historian Giulio Mancini records that Manetti did indeed train with Vanni and the former's youthful works, datable from the period 1597-1612, still retain much of the mannerist elements of Vanni's works as well as those of his contemporary Ventura Salimbeni. The fact that these three artists have often been confused is symptomatic of the unified style of painting to be found in Siena at this date. This is partly due to the artists' collaboration on various projects for the Signoria, including a series of frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico where the narrative is conceived as a unified whole and the style of the three artists is hard to distinguish one from the other. In particular, the soft focus and pastel colours reoccur in each of the artist's paintings, and the Madonn and Christ Child in this particular picture are extremely Vanni-like: compare, for example, Vanni's famous composition of similar format representing the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (more commonly known as the "Madonna della Pappa") known throught at least four versions, the prime one being probably that sold, New York, Christie's, January 24, 2003, lot 84. Although in recent times Vanni and Salimbeni have been regarded as the chief exponents of the Sienese late mannerist style, Manetti was greatly admired in Siena in his own day and in circa 1605-10 was appointed head planner to the Sienese Pictorial Council.

This painting probably dates from around 1610, soon after the completion of a painted standard which, though later thought to be by Salimbeni, was described by Fabio Chigi (later Pope Alexander VII) as "un bello stendardo di Rutilio Manetti in cui á imitato la maniera di F. Vanni e Ventura Salimbeni". The standard, painted for the lay fraternity of San Rocco in circa 1606-9 and today in the Canonica di San Pietro in Castelvecchia, is a pivotal work in Manetti's early career and provides an important point of comparison for dating the present canvas. The figures are similarly grouped in a pyramidal form and the figure-types, particularly the Christ Child and infant St. John the Baptist, are a blend of the children in Vanni and Salimbeni's paintings and have come to be seen as typical of Manetti's youthful works.

The function of the present canvas is unclear though the painting's modest scale and the inclusion of St. Catherine, the patron saint of Siena, would suggest that this was a private commission for a Sienese patron.

The painting belonged for almost thirty years to the great scholar, curator and connoisseur Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (see Fig. 1). It used to hang in his apartment in Palazzo Canigiani in Florence and he describes it there in his autobiography, as hanging in his study: "On the only vacant wall is a painting I bought in London as a Francesco Vanni. Sienese specialists tell me it is really an early work by Rutilio Manetti, and they may well be right. Beside it are two uncontested Francesco Vannis..." (see Literature). Though the painting exemplifies Pope-Hennessy's taste - he owned a large number of old master drawings of the Sienese school including works by Beccafumi, Salimbeni and Vanni - his collection was far more wide-ranging: it consisted of illuminated manuscripts, drawings, paintings, sculpture, furniture and works of art, dating from the Renaissance to the Baroque, as well as a fine collection of Chinese porcelain inherited from his parents.