Attributed to Simon Vouet

Born into a family of Parisian painters, Vouet spent his early career in Rome working for aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons. Although he was involved in many painting commissions during those years, few drawings seem to have survived; Kneeling angel may be one of his rare Roman sheets. The robust yet elegant angel is characteristic of Vouet’s early style, with its combination of black and white chalk and the careful description of light and shadow on the drapery folds. The study relates to a chapel vault decoration, featuring musical angels, that the artist painted in the Roman church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.