The Meeting of Saints Benedict and Totila

Nicholas Turner has suggested that the present sheet might be related to works by Corenzio for the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino, or frescoes in the Benedictine cloister and church of SS. Severino e Sosio in Naples. An alternate attribution to Giovanni Maria Morandi (Florence 1622-1717 Rome) has also been suggested. The drawing's distinct red chalk and red wash technique seem close to other works by Morandi. Comparable examples are at the Louvre, Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier bringing forth water from a rock (see F. Viatte, C. Mobeig Goguel, Dessins baroques florentins au Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981-82, p. 196); Chatsworth, Vision of the Virgin and Child in Glory appearing to Saint Philip Neri (red chalk only) (M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings: Roman and Neapolitan Schools, London, 1994, no. 278, inv. 636); and Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Marriage of the Virgin (Schleier, po. cit., p. 15).