MANETTI, Rutilio

The raising of the widow of Zarephath’s son is a miracle of the prophet Elijah recorded in the Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings 17.

Rutilio Manetti, an outstanding figure of Sienese Baroque painting, painted this work towards the end of his life, in the 1630s. The subject is taken from the Old Testament: Lot entertaining the two angels who arrived to destroy Sodom. Afterwards, the angels helped Lot, his wife and his daughters to escape from the sinful city. The scene has a quiet atmosphere. The depiction, focusing on the virtue of hospitality, has in its centre the still life composition of the richly laid table. The painter clearly took pleasure in minutely depicting the fine glass objects, metal plates, the heavy tablecloth, the various types of food, and the light reflected on them. The composition is based on the equilibrium of the three figures and stands out among the dynamic works of the baroque period that usually strive for a more dramatic effect.

Formerly the painting was attributed to Francesco Vanni, Manetti’s teacher with whom he often collaborated. Manetti’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.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 6 minutes):

Johann Pachelbel: Canon and Gigue in D major

The painting is a faithful representation of the episode from Ludovico Ariosto’s (1474-1533) epic poem Orlando Furioso in which Ruggiero arrives at Alcina’s court where, seduced by her beauty, he joins the feast prepared in his honour together with other couples. The setting devoid of any spatial references, the evocative contrasting light of the torchlight, the gesture of whispering into one another’s ears and the slightly raised perspective of the scene, as though someone were spying on the amorous gathering, effectively evoke the ambiance of ambiguity and seduction created by the sorceress’ spell to enchant Ruggiero. In particular, the candlelight inspired by the paintings of the Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst, whose Florentine works in the Medici collections would certainly have been known to Manetti, is particularly effective in portraying the enchanted night described in Orlando Furioso.

The scene is highly symbolic and was intended as a warning to live a virtuous life and not be enslaved by lust.

This work is an autograph variant of the painting in the church of Saint Eustache in Paris which originally hung in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. Another variant is in the Pitti Palace in Florence.

This small oil painting on cardboard is a study for The Rest derived from Correggio’s Zingarella, known as the Madonna with the Bowl (Staatliche Museen, Kassel).

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, Manetti traveled to Rome and Bologna where he was directly exposed to the works of Caravaggio, Guerchino, Lanfranco, and the Caravaggisti (especially Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Bartolomeo Manfredi). He is now considered to be one of the most important figures in seventeenth century Caravaggism in Tuscany. The present painting demonstrates a complete assimilation by Manetti of the naturalist innovations of Caravaggio. It was executed in an obvious Caravaggesque style, greatly inspired by Orazio Gentileschi.

The painting shows the influence of Caravaggio. The figure at lower left is probably the man who commissioned the painting.