Fire and Holy Picture
Francesco Vanni, a leading Sienese painter of the early Baroque, created this sketch as a sort of 'insert image here' placeholder. Four saints—clutching books, quills, and gazing skyward—look up in awe at a large, blank shield-shaped space in the center. Above them, a squad of cherubs hovers, holding a crown as if ready to coronate the missing holy figure. The faint grid lines crisscrossing the surface reveal the artist's practical workshop method: this was a working blueprint, squared up to be easily transferred and scaled onto a larger canvas or altar wall.
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