Francesco Vanni (Siena 1563-1610)

These two drawings are both preparatory studies for Vanni's celebrated picture The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena (circa 1601; San Raimondo del Rifiugio, Siena; see Marciari, op. cit., p. 171), focusing on the figure of King David who kneels with his harp in the right foreground. They show a particular concern with the fall of the draperies. Several other chalk studies for the same figure are known, including one in the Biblioteca Comunale, Siena (Marciari, op. cit., no. 60), two in the Uffizi (Riedl, op. cit., nos. 30 and 32) and one in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.