VANNI, Francesco (1563 - 1610).
The Saints of Siena: Studies for the Map of Siena.
Red chalk and red wash.
Inscribed on the mount (recto): Franc [esco]. Vanni da Vilnar. Illegible inscription verso.
c. 1595. 13" x 18" 1/4" sheet; 21" x 26" framed.

Provenance: Sir John Pope' Hennessy; Christies London, 7 July 1998, Lot 87 - $24,480.In 1595, Francesco Vanni drew this atmospheric, beautifully drawn and animated study in red chalk. The drawing shows groups of saints engaged in various interactions and movements, speaking and gesturing, appearing so lifelife that they could have stepped directly into the real world of the viewer. Vanni's ability to draw with vivid naturalism was so great that he imbued each of his images with a sense of life and dynamism. The artist's ability to render figures and proportions was flawless, and he moleled his forms beautifully with light and dark. The outstanding talent that Vanni displayed in this drawing, with but a few masterful strokes in red chalk, reveals the true extent of his artistry and reasons for his great fame.Francesco Vanni was one of the most noted Sienese artists of the late Italian Renaissance. His first teachers were Salimbene and Passarotti and at an early age he studied the works of Raphael at Rome under the direction of de'Vecchi. Further training at Palma and Bologna led Vanni to adopt the style of the great Umbrian leader of the Baroque style, Baroccio. His work was vast in scope and embraced every ganre, from large religious works, to history and mythological painting, and portrature. Commissioned by the most celebrated patrons of the arts, including the internationally powerful Medici family in Florence, he was one of the artists who made the small city-state of Siena a primary center of the Italian Renaissance (along with Florence). Perhaps his most famous commission came from Pope Clement VIII who commissioned him to paint the great altarpiece of Simon Magus rebuked by St. Peter fror St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, Rome.Vanni prepared this study of the Saints of Siena in preparation for his internationally renowned map of the city of Siena. In a letter of 1595 to Lorenzo Isimbardi, the principal minister to the Grand Duke Ferdinando de'Medici.