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Founders of the Olivetan Order Receiving the Habit, design for a painting in the left transept of the Church at the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, near Siena

Francesco Vanni, Italian, 1563 – 1610

1589

Founders of the Olivetan Order Receiving the Habit, design for a painting in the left transept of the Church at the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, near Siena by Francesco Vanni, Italian, 1563 – 1610

Medium

Drawing

Classification

Drawing

Department

Smithsonian Collection

Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Credit

Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund

Accession Number

1938-88-8175

About this artwork

Research in Progress

Art Historical Context

Francesco Vanni's *Founders of the Olivetan Receiving the Habit* (1589) is a captivating preparatory drawing for a grand painting intended for the left transept the Church at Monte Oliveto Maggiore, a historic Benedictine abbey near Siena, Italy. Created when Vanni was in his mid-20s, this work captures a pivotal moment in the Olivetan Order's founding in 1313, when its leaders—Bernardo Tolomei and—received their monastic habits, symbolizing their commitment to reformed Benedictine life amid 14th-century plagues and spiritual renewal. As a Sienese artist bridging Mannerism and early Baroque, ...

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