(Siena 1571–1639)
An Allegory of Music,
oil on canvas, 112.2 x 91.8 cm, framed
We are grateful to Pierluigi Carofano for suggesting the attribution on  the basis of photographs and for his help in cataloguing the present painting. We are We are grateful to Pierluigi Carofano for suggesting the attribution on the basis of photographs and for his help in cataloguing the present painting. 

We are also grateful to Wolfgang Prohaska for confirming the attribution to Rutilio Manetti after inspection of the present painting in the original. 

Carofano dates this Allegory of Music to before 1620, to the period in Manetti’s career, when he abandoned his early stylistic dependence on Barocci to embrace naturalism. The present composition is not ‘idealised’ but taken from life. The half-figure format derives from Manfredi and Domenichino. The fall of light from high on the left ‘sculpts’ the figure and suggests that Manetti was aware of the paintings of Barolomeo Cesi, Guercino and Guido Reni (see: M. Ciampolini, Pittori senesi del Seicento, I, Siena 2010, p. 246). 

The young woman who personifies the Allegory of Music is shown with a detached and thoughtful expression. She rests her cheek on the back of her right hand, while with her left she holds a volume of music on which is inscribed ‘TENORE’ in reverse. The subject’s garments have been depicted with an exacting use of colour which lend the figure a sense of three-dimensionality. With all the colours in dialogue, the young woman’s features standout, framed by her lightly coloured undershirt, and the rich silk turban and a precious broach that she wears. In this painting, the harmony of brightly coloured surfaces, the monumental composition and the suggestion that the figure’s gestures are slow moving, are all elements which point to the expressive language which Rutilio Manetti adopted at the outset of his interest in naturalism. 

The present painting shares close similarities to other works by Rutilio Manetti, for example the Madonna with the sleeping Child (Santa Lucia, Siena), the Saint Catherine of Siena crowned by an Angel (Chigi Saracini collection, Siena) and the Saint Rosalia (Luigi Koeliker collection, Milan)

We are grateful to Pierluigi Carofano for suggesting the attribution on  the basis of photographs and for his help in cataloguing the present painting. We are also grateful to Wolfgang Prohaska for confirming the attribution to Rutilio Manetti after inspection of the present painting in the original.

Carofano dates this Allegory of Music to before 1620, to the period in Manetti’s career, when he abandoned his early stylistic dependence on Barocci to embrace naturalism. The present composition is not ‘idealised’ but taken from life. The half-figure format derives from Manfredi and Domenichino. The fall of light from high on the left ‘sculpts’ the figure and suggests that Manetti was aware of the paintings of Barolomeo Cesi, Guercino and Guido Reni (see: M. Ciampolini, Pittori senesi del Seicento, I, Siena 2010, p. 246). The present painting shares close similarities to other works by Manetti, for example the Madonna with the sleeping Child (Santa Lucia, Siena), the Saint Catherine of Siena crowned by an Angel (Chigi Saracini collection, Siena) and the Saint Rosalia (Luigi Koelliker collection, Milan).

The young woman who personifies the Allegory of Music is shown with a detached and thoughtful expression. She rests her cheek on the back of her right hand, while with her left she holds a volume of music on which is inscribed ‘TENORE’ in reverse. The garments have been depicted with an exacting use of colour which lends the figure a sense of three-dimensionality. With all the colours in dialogue, the young woman’s features stand out, framed by her lightly coloured undershirt, the rich silk turban and a precious broach. In this painting, the harmony of brightly coloured surfaces, the monumental composition and the suggestion of movement are all elements of the expressive language which Manetti adopted at the outset of his interest in naturalism.