Rutilio Manetti

Rutilio Manetti received his early training in Siena under Francesco Vanni and Ventura Salimbeni. Despite his style changing considerably during his career, he never fully abandoned the fleshy facial types with delicate features and the busy compositions that typify Sienese mannerism. He was greatly admired in Siena in his own day and in circa 1605-10 was appointed head planner to the Sienese Pictorial Council. Although Manetti is not documented in Rome, it is generally assumed that he spent time there due to his shift in the 1620s towards the naturalism and chiaroscuro exemplified by Caravaggio and his followers, as seen in the present painting.