Study of a Battle, preparatory sketch for the fresco 'Clovis Defeats Alaric II'

Raffaello Vanni executed this brisk pen study in preparation for a large wall fresco he painted in the oratory of the Santissima Trinità and church of the Contrada of Valdimontone, in Siena. It depicts the Battle of Vouillé of 507, when King Clovis of France defeated Alaric II, King of the Visigoths of Toulouse. The legendary ancient story would have resonated in the 17th century as an image of Catholic triumph over nonbelievers. The scholars Marco Ciampolini and Alfred Moir identified the related fresco in Siena.