Saint Philip Benizi Converting Two Wicked Women at the City of Todi
This drawing is a study for one of the lunettes frescoed around 1606 by Bernardino Poccetti in the ‘Chiostro dei Morti’ at the Santissima Annunziata, Florence. The fresco forms part of a series of twenty five similarly shaped frescoes in the large cloister. The frescoes deal with the lives and deaths of the Servite monks. Only thirteen of the frescoes were painted by Poccetti. Others in the series were by Matteo Rosselli (1578-1650), Fra Arsenio (Donato Mascagni, 1579-1636) and by Ventura Salimbeni (1568-1613). The Metropolitan Museum owns a total of four drawings by Poccetti which are studies for the important frescoes in the Annunziata: see inv. nos. 61.178.2 (Death of Saint Alexis Falconieri), 80.3.320 (Figure Studies), and 200.91.1 (Seated Figure and Sanding Figure).
The Museum's drawing records an early stage of Poccetti's plans for this fresco: here Saint Philip Benizi faces the two women of loose life who appear at the right corner of the lunette. In the fresco the grouping is reversed, and the two women stand at the center of the composition; this solution is already indicated in the other surviving composition studies for the fresco, one of which is in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, while the other is in the Albertina, Vienna. The drawing in the Metropolitan Museum is a study, with considerable variants, for the fresco which is second from the left as one faces the wall of the nave. Below the fresco is the following inscription: 'IL BEATO FILIPPO BENIZI FIORENTINO PREDETTA IN FIRENZI LA SUA VICINA MORTE CHE TOSTO GLI SEGUI A TODI CITTA DELL'UMBRIA DOVE/CONGRANDE APPLAUSO ERA ASPETTATO RIDUSSE CON LE SUE ESORTAZIONI ET ELEMOSINE DUE CATTIVE DONNE A RELIGIOSA VITA L'ANNO MCCLXXXV.'
The Museum's drawing records an early stage of Poccetti's plans for this fresco: here Saint Philip Benizi faces the two women of loose life who appear at the right corner of the lunette. In the fresco the grouping is reversed, and the two women stand at the center of the composition; this solution is already indicated in the other surviving composition studies for the fresco, one of which is in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, while the other is in the Albertina, Vienna. The drawing in the Metropolitan Museum is a study, with considerable variants, for the fresco which is second from the left as one faces the wall of the nave. Below the fresco is the following inscription: 'IL BEATO FILIPPO BENIZI FIORENTINO PREDETTA IN FIRENZI LA SUA VICINA MORTE CHE TOSTO GLI SEGUI A TODI CITTA DELL'UMBRIA DOVE/CONGRANDE APPLAUSO ERA ASPETTATO RIDUSSE CON LE SUE ESORTAZIONI ET ELEMOSINE DUE CATTIVE DONNE A RELIGIOSA VITA L'ANNO MCCLXXXV.'
Artwork Details
- Title: Saint Philip Benizi Converting Two Wicked Women at the City of Todi
- Artist: Bernardino Poccetti (Italian, San Marino di Valdelsa 1548–1612 Florence)
- Date: 1608–9
- Medium: Brush and gray wash, highlighted with white gouache, on brownish paper
- Dimensions: 9-15/16 x 13-9/16 in. (25.3 x 34.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1964
- Object Number: 64.48.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Bernardino Poccetti
1780
Bernardino Poccetti
1548–1612
Bernardino Poccetti
Bernardino Poccetti
1548–1612
Bernardino Poccetti
1548–1612
Related Content
Publications
Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.
Free to download
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.