The Miracle of San Savino

This, the only known drawing by Benedetto Marini, is a preparatory study for one of four compartments in the ceiling of the Chapel of San Savino and of the Madonna del Popolo in the Cathedral at Faenza (N. Schwed, loc. cit., fig. a). The decoration of the chapel was commissioned in 1612, with Ferraù Fenzoni responsible for the walls and Marini the ceiling. The painting follows the drawing very closely, save for the iconographically incorrect inclusion of the saint's hands: San Savino, first bishop of Faenza, had had his hands cut off as a punishment for throwing down a statue of Jupiter. He performed a number of miracles such as restoring the sight of a widow's son (shown here) before being martyred by Diocletian in 303 A.D. The medium, technique and style is very similar to that of Federico Barocci, the most influential artist active in the Marche in the period. Despite the existence of at least twenty pictures by Marini, in the Marche, Piacenza and elsewhere, the present work, first identified by Nicolas Schwed, is the only known drawing by the artist.