Ora et labora Devotion and scholarship in the Italian drawings of the Madonna by Juan Ricci de Guevara

This contribution addresses how the art of drawing enabled the expression of personal and singular views, centralizing drawings made in the context of the Order of Saint Benedict in Italy at the end of the seventeenth century. At that moment, the Order of Saint Benedict was an international religious network connecting people, places, and scholarship. The Benedictine order is a scholarly monastic order, because reading is a fundamental principle in its constituting Rule, written by Saint Benedict in Montecassino towards the middle of the sixth century. It describes how many times per day and in what way monks have to pray together publicly (ora), and how much time per day has to be spent on reading Scripture (Lectio Divina) and manual labor (labora). The Rule thus states that intellectual work goes hand in hand with the religious task. Since monks were expected to study and disseminate their knowledge, the monasteries had libraries and scriptoria to produce manuscripts. These scriptoria remained functioning far into the age of printing and enabled the spread of knowledge both inside and outside the Benedictine network. The combination of intellectual and religious work is present in the art and writings by Juan Andrés Ricci de Guevara (1600-1681). Born in Madrid, Ricci became a member of the Benedictine congregation of Valladolid in 1627. He spent the final 19 years (November 1662-1681) of his life in Rome and the Kingdom of Naples, in those years part of the Spanish Empire, where he continued his life as a visual artist, eminent scholar and a fanatic traveller. In this period Ricci visited several Benedictine monasteries, and paid special attention to the devotion to Mary, one of his dearest religious themes. Ricci passed away in the abbey of Montecassino, which belonged to the Cassinese congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict. Early biographies of Ricci appeared in Benedictine chronicles in both Spain and the Kingdom of Naples and showed how the differences between Benedictine congregations reflected on his reputation and inheritance. For instance, a Spanish biography published in 1677 stated that since his departure from the geographical area of the congregation of Valladolid

This contribution addresses how the art of drawing enabled the expression of personal and singular views, centralizing drawings made in the context of the Order of Saint Benedict in Italy at the end of the seventeenth century. At that moment, the Order of Saint Benedict was an international religious network connecting people, places, and scholarship. The Benedictine order is a scholarly monastic order, because reading is a fundamental principle in its constituting Rule, written by Saint Benedict in Montecassino towards the middle of the sixth century. It describes how many times per day and in what way monks have to pray together publicly (ora), and how much time per day has to be spent on reading Scripture (Lectio Divina) and manual labor (labora). The Rule thus states that intellectual work goes hand in hand with the religious task. Since monks were expected to study and disseminate their knowledge, the monasteries had libraries and scriptoria to produce manuscripts. These scriptoria remained functioning far into the age of printing and enabled the spread of knowledge both inside and outside the Benedictine network.
The combination of intellectual and religious work is present in the art and writings by Juan Andrés Ricci de Guevara (1600-1681). Born in Madrid, Ricci became a member of the Benedictine congregation of Valladolid in 1627. He spent the final 19 years (November 1662-1681) of his life in Rome and the Kingdom of Naples, in those years part of the Spanish Empire, where he continued his life as a visual artist, eminent scholar and a fanatic traveller. 1 In this period Ricci visited several Benedictine monasteries, and paid special attention to the devotion to Mary, one of his dearest religious themes. Ricci passed away in the abbey of Montecassino, which belonged to the Cassinese congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict. Early biographies of Ricci appeared in Benedictine chronicles in both Spain and the Kingdom of Naples and showed how the differences between Benedictine congregations reflected on his reputation and inheritance. For instance, a Spanish biography published in 1677 stated that since his departure from the geographical area of the congregation of Valladolid for Rome, nothing had been heard from Ricci and that he might even had passed away already, while he had not. 2 On the Italian peninsula on the other hand, Ricci kept stressing his membership of the Spanish congregation of Valladolid in his writings, causing him to be known as a 'spagnolo' for the rest of his life. 3 The two congregations also had different approaches to devotional matters, as will become clear in the analysis of Ricci's drawings.
Ricci had a lifelong devotion to the Virgin Mary, which had a theological academic, as well as an affective side. The former was nourished by the study of relevant literature in the Benedictine colleges and library collections, the latter was expressed during his meditation on portraits of Mary, particularly while he was drawing them. We can assume Ricci knew many depictions of Mary, since he made six drawings modelled on different Madonna's. These can be regarded as his personal commentaries on the devotion of Mary as suggested by Saint Thomas Aquinas. The first five are quite large and meticulously detailed, which suggests that he did not make the drawings in situ, but behind a desk in a library or private study room, with a print or a sketch in front of him. The sixth drawing is smaller, and has a more schematic design. All drawings were made in the Papal States or the Kingdom of Naples between 1663 and 1671 and are now kept in the manuscript archive of the Abbey of Montecassino. Ricci replicated the original paintings and sculptures or their reproductions, and created new visual compositions for these portraits, regularly combining the new compositions with written invocations and prayers. We can deduct from Ricci's illustrated manuscripts that for him, painting and drawing equalled practicing theology. 4 As such, his six Italian drawings of the Madonna are a visual manifestation of the Rule of Saint Benedict, according to which scholarly activity is combined with practicing faith. The central question is how the drawings functioned in the development of Ricci's particular ideas about the proper devotion to Mary. 5 This devotional aspect of the drawings, which becomes evident from the comparison with their models, has not yet been studied.

The three pillars of Ricci's Mariology
Ricci's devotion to Mary was based on three pillars. In the first place, he was formed early in his life by a local culture in Madrid in which a devotion to Mary was common. Secondly, his scholarly theological approach was developed by his academic education in (among other subjects) theology and philosophy at the Benedictine colleges in Irache and Salamanca in Spain. Thirdly, mirroring his education as an artist, Ricci developed an interest in the specific devotion to drawn, painted and sculpted portraits of Mary, with special attention for the ones connected to the legend of Saint Luke painting the Madonna. All of this resulted in an extraordinary practice of Mariology that he described in more general terms as 'teologia mystica', which can be defined as a more speculative kind of theology in which the artistic process has a central place. 6 Ricci's juvenile devotion to Mary was connected to the local statue of the Virgen del Buen Suceso in Madrid, placed in the church of the Hospital Real of the court, close to his home. The small statue was brought to Madrid by Gabriel de Fontanet in 1607 and was placed in the aforementioned church in 1611. The statue generated many miracles, the first one of which is commemorated by Ricci in a personal remark in his writings. It concerned the Virgen del Buen Suceso saving the life of a colt by increasing the number of nipples of a mule in order to feed it. 7 Ricci's devotion gained an academic embedding when he was selected as one of the Benedictine 'colegiales' who were deemed suitable for an exclusive education at university level. 8 The curriculum followed by Ricci was informed by the habits of the congregation of Valladolid. For example at the Colegio de Santa María la Real in Irache, time was reserved in the daily schedule for prayers to the Virgin. 9 Later, at the Colegio de San Vicente in Salamanca, Ricci became aware of the Benedictine theological debate in defence of the Immaculacy of the Virgin, a subject that had already caught his attention at a young age. 10 For Ricci personally, Mary's immaculacy was unquestionable, but this was no Catholic dogma and therefore subject of debate.
Two publications that characterize the theological mentality in which Ricci was educated during his studies are relevant for an analysis of the six drawings. The first one is Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, which was the most significant study book in Salamanca since 1561. 11 The second one is written by the abbot of the Colegio de San Vicente and professor of Theology, José de la Cerda, entitled Maria Effigies, and published in 1651 and 1662. 12 Although the book was published after Ricci's stay in Salamanca, we can assume that De la Cerda's theological approach to Mary was already part of his lectures. Aquinas's and De la Cerda's publications influenced Ricci's ideas about devotion.
According to Aquinas, the devotion to Mary was connected to the debate about her divinity. Aquinas explained this in comparison to the adoration of Christ. When it comes to Christ, two options are possible. His graceful and perfect humanity should be adored by means of a certain reverence which is described as dulia. This type of reverence may also be paid to the saints. Yet Christ's divinity should be adored through latria, a rather internal form of worship, which is reserved exclusively for the divine. 13 Latria, Aquinas explained, can be projected onto an image of Christ, as long as one worships that image not for its material aspects, but as symbolic representation of what is imagined, which is Christ himself. 14 In this matter Aquinas specifically referred to the image of Christ in Rome called Uronica, which legend attributes to Saint Luke. The question how Mary should be worshipped comes down to the question of whether she is divine or not. This theological matter was frequently debated at the time and lies at the centre of the larger debate about Mary's immaculacy. Aquinas described a specific kind of adoration for Mary. Since she is the Mother of God, he argued, she should not be adored by dulia. Instead, because her divinity is debatable, she should be adored through a specific kind of worship, described as hyperdulia. 15  departure. He inverted Aquinas's argumentation that the level of veneration determines the use of images, by speculating whether the image can determine the veneration. If Ricci could create an image of Mary that should be adored through latria, this could serve as an argument for her divinity.
During his stay in Rome, Ricci commented extensively on Aquinas's supposition that Mary should be worshipped through hyperdulia. He compared Aquinas's theological and intellectual expertise to his own knowledge of the contemporary practice in Spain. 16 Ricci searched for a connection between the scholarly and the popular approach to Mary's status and thus also the way in which she could be venerated. 17 In his commentary to Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, Ricci quoted lines from religious sources and Scripture that alluded to Mary's divine status. He agreed with Aquinas that a strong tradition existed of adoring the image of Christ because it is made by Saint Luke, and referred to an image of Christ that appeared on the wall of the old Lateran Basilica. 18 New, however, was the popular argument in which Ricci shifted Aquinas's focus on the image of Christ to Mary's. Ricci added that in Spain, many images of the Madonna existed, also believed to be made by Saint Luke or the sculptor Nicodemus, drawing attention to sculpture. He concluded that the problem whether Mary should be worshipped by latria or hyperdulia was an intellectual discussion amongst 'doctores' that was not mirrored by the people, and that the 'doctores' should not make guidelines for devotion and instruct these to the people, but instead should take the existing practice of devotion as a starting point for their argumentation. 19 Ultimately, this could lead to the conclusion that Mary is divine.
Ricci's observation of Aquinas's omission to discuss the role of the image of Mary in her devotion, his promotion of popular devotional practice, and his indirect criticism of Aquinas's conclusion to worship Mary's divinity by hyperdulia instead of latria, opened the way to make drawings in which Mary's divinity proper came forward and the adoration by latria was legitimized. This was a consequence of the fact that next to an image of Christ, which could be an object of veneration according to Aquinas, there was also one of Mary. This is visible in the first three drawings, where the original icon of the Madonna is combined with an image of Christ.
The third pillar of Ricci's approach to Mariology was connected to his practice as an artist. An important source for Ricci to understand the creation of, status of, and devotion to images of Christ and Mary from the perspective of the artist was Vincenzo Carducho's Dialogos de la pintura (1633). In the first place, Carducho mentioned several images of Christ and Mary that, according to legend, had been created miraculously. With the right devotion to these images, Carducho argued, one could experience God performing miracles through them. 20 Carducho described three of these images. The first one was the Annunciation in Santissima Annunziata in Florence. In 1252, the devout artist of this icon experienced a supernatural assistance in painting the face of the angel. When he wanted to start painting the divine face of Mary, he fell asleep, the church filled with light, and Mary's face was completed without the artist's doing. 21 Secondly, Carducho described the acheiropoieton ('made without hands') Uronica, painted by Saint Luke, and according to legend perfected by an angel. 22 The third example was the miraculous appearance of the face of Christ on the wall of the old Lateran Basilica, which according to a medieval legend took place on the day its high altar was consecrated by Pope Sylvester. 23 In the second place, Carducho described what happened to Saint Luke when he devoutly painted the 'holy images', namely that an allegorical internal 'painting' of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin took place in his soul, triggering contemplation and a desire to imitate Mary's virtues. 24 Five specific works attributed to Saint Luke were shortly named: in Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, in Santa Maria del Carmine Maggiore in Naples, in Trapani and Calatayud. 25 As such, Carducho specifically described the devotion by artists who followed the footsteps of Saint Luke. The internal devotion to the Holy Trinity which is triggered if one paints in the tradition of Saint Luke is extensively discussed in De la Cerda's publication Maria Effigies (1651 and 1662), which is a vast Benedictine theological excursus with theological arguments for Mary's hierarchical status and the extent of her devotion. 26 These publications made it possible for Ricci to argue that the suggestion of the triggering of an inner devotion to the Holy Trinity and the Virgin, legitimized the highest devotion to Mary through her portraits, especially those made by devout artists following the footsteps of Saint Luke.

The legend of Saint Luke
Aquinas, Carducho and Ricci all referred to the miraculous images of Christ and Mary that are attributed to Saint Luke, while their ideas concerning the devotional approach to images of the Madonna and its side-effects differed. Aquinas wrote that hyperdulia was the devotion to the Mother of God, which was a separate category to differ from the devotion by latria, which was exclusive for the divine. Carducho asserted that devout artists particularly could reach a certain state of contemplation because of the internal 'painting' of the Virgin in their soul. Ricci, who had already propagated his personal belief in Mary's divinity for years, argued that the discussion conducted among scholars had become too intellectual, while the popular belief in Mary's divinity was undisputed, thus implying that Mary could be adored by latria. 27 Since Aquinas had not discussed the role of images of Mary during her veneration, Ricci found a new authority in this matter in the legend of Saint Luke painting her portrait, and also in the objects that were thought to be these portraits.
The idea that the portrait of Mary was painted by Saint Luke relies on a legend that dates back at least to the beginning of the eighth century. 28 One of the consequences of this legend was the attribution of various surviving icons to Saint Luke, and subsequently their veneration. For seventeenth-century artists Saint Luke had become the ideal model for a devout practice of painting. 29 This was partly because Saint Luke's painting was believed to have been completed through divine 23 Ivi, pp. 126v-127r. K. Noreen, 'Shaping the Sacred. Icons, Processions, and the Presence of the Holy', in: N. Denysenko (ed.), Icons and the Liturgy, East and West. History, Theology, and Culture, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2017, pp. 88-89. 24 'Imitemosle en la vida, y en el modo de pintar devoto: en lo exterior, y interior, que es sin ninguna duda, que assi como traia en su compañia aquellas santas imagenes pintadas, tambien tenia dentro del alma retratada toda la Santissima Trinidad, contemplando sus soberanos atributos, a quien procurava copiar; y a la purissima Reina de los Angeles, pro curando imitar sus santissimas virtudes'. Carducho, Dialogos de la pintura, cit., p. 128r. 25  intervention, thus being a divine miracle. 30 Saint Luke thus served as an example for human beings to reach knowledge of the divine. Ricci's fascination for the image of Mary comes to the fore in the drawings that will be discussed shortly.
In Imagen, o espejo de las obras de Dios, a manuscript that Ricci compiled in Spain shortly before he travelled to Rome, he wrote about the existence of physical heritage attributed to Saint Luke. Ricci mentioned two Italian examples, namely the icon of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and the Madonna of Loreto, icons which would eventually become subject to his creativity. 31 During his time in Italy, he also showed an interest in other local models of the Madonna, both painted − referencing Saint Luke − as well as sculpted − referencing Nicodemus.
Ricci's appropriation of the famous Madonna-icons in his drawings showed his appreciation of their formal composition. In keeping the original composition recognisable, the new drawings preserved the various popular values that were attached to their models. However, in his recontextualisation of the composition, whether in regard to composition as in the first three examples, or more textual in the final three, their significance was not necessarily changed but amplified. Ricci preserved the popular devotional values of the models, but reframed their role as arguments in a theological debate concerning the devotion to Mary.

Analysis of the drawings
Below, Ricci's six drawings of the Madonna are analysed from the perspective of their devotional function. Exactly because of the central role for the creative process in the devotion to the images, as described by Carducho, they will be considered rather detached from the main text of the manuscripts by Ricci, unless their iconography legitimises such a reference. The first five drawings were executed in a more modern style than their models. The high-leveled cross-hatching adds depth to the image, the bodies appear more naturalistic in proportion, and the flesh and hairdo more real and alive. The first three drawings form a set, as do the fourth and fifth drawing.
The first drawing depicting Christ and the Madonna is modelled on the icon now known as the Salus Populi Romani, kept in the Cappella Paolina of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (Fig. 1). 32 Ricci already knew this icon from the description in Carducho's publication and he had written about it himself in Spain in Imagen. Because he spent some time at the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for study and writing in the final months of 1663, he must have seen the icon with his own eyes. 33 The drawing can be dated in the second half of the year 1663, just like the next two drawings, since these three form a set. The original icon measures 117x79 cm and legend attributes it to Saint Luke, although a seventeenth-century source suggested it was only sketched by Saint Luke and miraculously completed by angels (Fig. 2). 34 Depicted is Mary as Mother of God, holding the Christ child. The infant makes a gesture of blessing and holds a book. In 1613, the icon was removed from a ciborium in the nave of Santa Maria Maggiore and fixed to its current position in the altar tabernacle in the Cappella Paolina, which was commissioned in 1611 by pope Paul V. 35  surrounding gilded bronze sculptures of angels, the marble decorations, and the lapis lazuli background are all part of the same design project for the altar tabernacle. 36 In his drawing, Ricci added a globus cruciger, a Christian symbol of authority, beneath Mary's feet. The cross represents Christ's dominion over the orb of the world as Salvator Mundi. The globe is placed in a larger sphere that is drawn before a multilayered curve, representing the universe, on which the Madonna is placed in the centre. 37 On her right side a seated Christ is depicted wearing only a cloth and revealing the stigmata, while he celebrates mass by holding a host and chalice. Above the heads of the three figures the triregnum is depicted, sometimes associated with threefold authority or regarded as symbol of the Trinity. This iconography shows the cosmic and worldly authority equally divided among the depicted figures. The rather particular motif in which Christ appears twice is very rare. 38 It appears in the first three drawings, in which Ricci added the figure of Christ to an existing model of the Madonna, while he crowned all three figures with similar crowns. Ricci introduced this motif as a visual pendant of his textual argumentation in his mission to provide valid and convincing theological proof necessary to raise the status of the mystery of Mary's immaculacy to Catholic dogma. His reasoning consisted of two main arguments.
The first argument was connected to the Eucharist and explained why the figures are depicted during the celebration of mass. Ricci referred to the transubstantiation that takes place during the sacrament of the Eucharist, in which wine and bread turn into the blood and body of Christ, and the manifestation of the purity of Christ takes place. Ricci extended this purity to Mary. In his illustrated manuscript Immaculatae Conceptionis Conclusio (1663), he argued that the main evidence for Mary's immaculacy was the 'fact' that Christ's body and blood are Mary's body and blood, since they are mother and son. This is presented as an argument to consider Mary and Christ as equivalent in the devotional hierarchy. Ricci continued by arguing that if Christ was not free from original sin, neither was Mary. 39 The second argument was the visual motif of Mary with the child in her arms, which is an iconographic reference to Mary's divinity. The motif of the Madonna appearing in a celestial environment is reminiscent of a scene in the twelfth book of the Apocalypse of John, in which a woman appeared in heaven who gave birth to a male child 'who was to rule all nations'. Since the Middle Ages, the woman of the Apocalypse has been associated with Mary in her immaculate state. 40 In order to depict Mary in her most divine form, she is depicted with the characteristics of John's divine vision. This visual representation of her purity and divinity was used by Ricci as an argument in the discussion about Mary's immaculacy. Ricci repeated this iconographic approach in the next two drawings, despite the contemporary debate concerning its problematic visual result. The Spanish artist Francisco Pacheco (1564-1644), for instance, had recommended to omit the child in the depiction of Maria Immacolata to avoid confusion. 41 Since Ricci did not add any text to this drawing, it is the prime example of his iconographic creativity in all of these six drawings.
The second drawing, Christ celebrating mass and the Madonna, is modelled on the Madonna of Loreto (Fig. 3). 42 The original sculpture was made of black wood and stood in the basilica of the Santa Casa in Loreto from c. 1380 onwards. It was a popular iconographic prototype of the Madonna, in which Mary and Child are depicted frontally and Christ holds a globus cruciger and makes a blessing gesture. The characteristic frontal depiction has been connected to their future almighty reign. 43 According to legend, the house in which Mary lived was flown from Jerusalem to Loreto by angels, where a church was built around it. 44 Ricci's remark in Imagen that the Madonna of Loreto was believed to be made by Saint Luke, stood in a long tradition. 45 The specific crowns and dress in this drawing by Ricci do not directly connect the drawing to the sculpture, but rather to a painting of it by Cavaliere d'Arpino from 1600 (Fig. 4). 46 The dalmatic and the triregnums are copied from the painting in detail, including gems, pearls, pendants and decoration. The chains and necklaces, some with crosses hanging from them, probably refer to the custom of hanging chains as votive gifts on the dalmatic, which was in fact a construction placed in front of the statue. 47 The upper cross on the drawing refers to a red cross bottony, while the one below refers to a white cross cercelée. They appear below a small silver putto. The dalmatic of gilded silver, imitating gold brocade, and its ornamentation as they appear on the 39  paintings were a votive gift by cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. 48 The context of this specific personal cause for devotion, however, has not been copied by Ricci in his drawing.
In Ricci's drawing, the reference to Aldobrandini's devotion to the Lauretan Madonna is substituted by a humble devotion by two kneeling and praying seraphim. With three pairs of wings they hold the highest position in the angelic hierarchy. As caretakers of God's throne, they safeguard divine principles and order. 49 They kneel before an altar at which Christ is celebrating mass, holding a chalice and host. The patriarchal cross is placed on the altar. The three figures wear the same crowns as a sign of their equal status.
Again, Ricci did not add text to this drawing. The Madonna of Loreto is, however, connected to her own litany. In the litany of Loreto, approved by pope Sixtus V in 1587, the Madonna is alluded to metaphorically as 'Mater purissima', serving as a reference to her immaculacy. 50 While the text of the litany is absent in the drawing, the icon is directly connected to a context of recited or sung devotion by the people. Just like in the previous drawing, Ricci referred to an icon that is an object of popular devotion, and reframed it in the context of devotional hierarchy. The third drawing, Christ celebrating mass and the Madonna, is modelled on the Virgin of Carmel, also called La Bruna (Fig. 5). 51 This icon was also mentioned by Carducho in the Dialogos. It is kept in Naples in the Basilica Santuario di Santa Maria del Carmine Maggiore. According to legend, Saint Luke painted this icon, which was venerated several centuries on Mount Carmel in present-day Israel before it arrived in Naples. 52 The icon is suggested to date from c. 1280 (Fig. 6). 53 It is an icon of the Eleusa (merciful) type, which shows Christ pressing his cheek to his mother's, and stresses Mary's tenderness. 54 One of the miracles attributed to La Bruna is the instantaneous healing of a poor cripple in the Holy Year 1500, when he called out to her while the icon was carried by. 55 The drawing strongly resembles the preceding one, since the figure of Christ celebrating mass, holding a chalice and host, is depicted next to the Madonna behind an altar on which the patriarchal cross is placed. The three figures are being crowned with similar crowns. Again, two worshipping seraphim are depicted, but this time their highest hierarchical position is stressed by an explanatory comment by Ricci, and by the sketchy depiction of nine choirs of angels in the background.
Because the drawing can be found on the page right after the page with the drawing based on the Madonna of Loreto, it is likely that the preferable connotation of this drawing is the litany of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is said to be the oldest litany in the Church, in which the words 'Sancta Maria' are repeated at the beginning of each invocation. 56 Ricci's new composition tentatively raises the question of the relation between God and all creatures of the Creation, and Mary's place in the divine order if she is adored equally as Christ.
Shortly after the completion of the first three drawings Mary's official celebratory status changed. In December 1664 pope Alexander VII granted Spain the right to celebrate the service of the Immaculate Conception as a cult. In 1665 this right was extended to the Spanish territory of the kingdom of Naples. 57 In L'Aquila and Montecassino Ricci would thus experience this new right, and the next three drawings are made under those new circumstances.
The fourth drawing depicts the statue of the Madonna della Croce in Poggio di Roio near L'Aquila (Fig. 7). 58 It is possible to date this drawing and the next one around the period of November 1668 to April 1669, when Ricci was in L'Aquila. 59 Ricci appears to have diligently copied the decorated frame of the niche in which the statue was placed, which was part of the rather recent completion of the marble altar wall (1643-1656) in the sanctuary (Fig. 8). 60 In this drawing, as in the fifth and sixth drawing, Ricci followed the original composition closely, while he had taken the liberty to make adjustments in the first three drawings. According to legend, the statue had been found by a shepherd. He had lost part of his flock and prayed to the Virgin to avoid the punishment of his masters. Suddenly a vision of a woman with a child in her arms appeared who pointed out to the shepherd where he could bring his flock together. At the location of the apparition, other shepherds later found a statue resembling the woman from the vision. When they carried the statue on the back of a mule towards Roio, the mule suddenly knelt near a cross. Because the mule refused to go on, the shepherds carried the statue further. The next day the statue miraculously surfaced in the church of San Leonardo in the place where now the Santuario of Poggio di Roio stands. 61 This drawing is remarkable, as is the next one (and to a certain extent also the drawing that is modelled on the Madonna of Loreto), because it shows Ricci's interest in a sculptural model instead of a two-dimensional one. This recalls Ricci's remarks about the fact that this attention for sculpture in the line of Nicodemus references a more Spanish tradition in relation to the tradition described by Aquinas. In the case of Ricci, it is hard to not mention in this matter the famous miraculous sculpture of the Moreneta in Montserrat, a black Madonna of which Ricci had made a painting, and which must have played a role in his personal devotion, as it is kept in the church where Ricci had entered the Order of Saint Benedict in 1627. 62 The reference to Nicodemus lies in the fact that he was a sculptor, present at Christ's crucifixion. He is remembered for the carving of the 'volto santo', which was believed to have been completed by angelic intervention and thus also an acheiropoieton. This crucifix is believed to contain Christ's blood and parts of the crown of thorns and is kept in the cathedral of Lucca. 63 The page on which the drawing is made is full of written allusions to Mary's important status, mainly on the basis of quotes from Scripture, in order to promote her divinity. Exemplary in Ricci's writings above the drawing is the phrase 'Liber generationis Jesu Christi. Liberque generationis Mariae. Maria de qua natus est Jesus, qui vocatur Christus'. 64 In the margin of the page, he wrote that this phrase is a famous canticle in the church, referring to a specific section of the breviary. 65 The prominent reference here to the sung devotion by the people was once again a sign of Ricci's attention for popular devotional practice.
The fifth drawing is based on a model that has not been identified (Fig. 9). 66 A clue for the model can be found in Ricci's own description: 'Ecce imago in lapide naturale depicta, secundum [me] licet dicere supernaturale; quae ab initio ordinata est, ut cuncta cum Deo componeret'. 67 The drawing suggests a sculpture of a nursing Virgo Lactans as the model, most probably present in the Abruzzo region surrounding L'Aquila, where this affective iconography had been a popular model c. 1200-1400. 68 Despite the fact that the original model is unknown, the reference to its materiality is of importance. As Ricci wrote, the substance could be regarded as supernatural instead of natural, since the sculpture was a direct creation by God because it was made from an unprocessed natural material. In this line of thought, the supernatural materiality of the original model counted as a supportive argument for the supernatural original status of who is depicted. This specific argument, forming a base for a new approach to prove Mary's immaculacy, ignored Aquinas's instruction for the devotional use of images. Aquinas specifically mentioned that in the adoration through images, their materiality should not be considered, but only that what was represented. 69 Ricci showed he clearly opposed this, since the aspect of materiality served his argument. His competence as an artist gave him the opportunity to deflect from the guidelines by Aquinas, resulting in a less rigid approach to devotional theory.
The text accompanying the drawing consists of textual fragments from specific sources, mentioned in the margin, that can be connected to Mary's immaculacy. Exemplary is this phrase on the verso side of the page: 'Maria virgo immunis est ab omni peccato, originali, veniali et mortali'. 70

Figure 9
The sixth drawing is a sketch of the Madonna della Purità (c. 1550) in the Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore in Naples (Fig. 10). 71 The sketch is drawn on a small sheet besides a personal prayer, to which Ricci added his name and the date of 17 May 1671. This date and the sketchy character legitimise the suggestion that the drawing was made in situ. The original panel is painted by the Spanish artist Luis de Morales (c. 1509-1586, Fig. 11). The sobriquet El Divino was explained by Antonio Palomino as a reference to the religious subjects and the naturalism of De Morales's paintings. 72 The Christ child holds an apple as a symbol of human redemption. 73 The Spanish priest don Diego de Barnaudo y Mendoza had donated the painting in 1641 to the Theatine church in Naples. Until then, it was kept in the abbey of San Martino delle Scale near Palermo. 74 The painting was named Madonna della Purità 'for its admirable and pure qualities' which was a direct way to connect the panel to the immaculacy of the Virgin. 75 The painting soon became subject of popular devotion in various circles. The image was copied many times in order to be similarly devoted in other churches, which makes it difficult to say where Ricci made the drawing. 76 The church of Montecassino itself however had a chapel devoted to the Madonna della Purità including a copy of De Morales's painting. 77 In Naples, it became a local prime object for devotion to Mary. 78 But also, and this must have been the main reason for Ricci's fascination for the painting, as a general symbol of the Immaculacy, because the Purità-Madonna became the Theatine version of the Immacolata. 79 This is stressed by an inscription on the painting, alluding to the idea that Mary was free from original sin. 80 Its devotion was at its peak in the second half of the seventeenth century and Ricci made the drawing shortly before the popular devotion of the image received papal recognition. On 20 August 1671, pope Clement X issued a bull in order to allow the feast of the Madonna della Purità to be celebrated each year on 2 February. 81 Ricci understood that, with the right framing, this could be considered as a papal gesture towards the desired declaration of the dogma of the immaculacy of the Virgin.
The model has been copied only very sketchily on a small sheet, but with a reference to the eight small heads at the border of the image, which is a feature that appears on the painted frame of the painting. 82 There is a vague indication of the addition of two crowns. Most space on the sheet is reserved for a prayer. That prayer is the exemplary epitome and written proof of Ricci's devotion to the Virgin. The personal section is written in his native Castilian Spanish. He writes: 'If my powers suffice, I hope for the intercession of Your Sacrosanct Majesty, Mother of the Holiest God, and the Purest, [...] and my devotion will reach your Sacrosanct Majesty, […] as I have done always with pleasure, peacefully, quietly, and with sincere uniformity'. 83 Ricci continued the prayer in Latin, asking God to project the purity of Mary on the body and mind of pious human beings. He finished with a direct reference to the immaculacy: 'Praised be the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and the Immaculate Conception of the Empress of the Universe, the Virgin Mary, without original sin. Amen'. 84 As such, the sheet shows exactly what the function of the image is in Ricci's devotion. Ricci meditated on the specific image and its local devotion, and while sketching the icon and stressing his personal devotion in written prayer, he asked for intercession by praising Mary in her divine state, which is her immaculacy, that makes her devotion equal to that to Christ. It is the devout act of drawing the Madonna, in the footsteps of the devout Saint Luke and the divine completion of his icon, mirrored by an inner 'painting' of the Holy Trinity, that made this an example of latria rather than of hyperdulia towards Mary, and subsequently proof of Mary's divinity.

Conclusion
Ricci's theological ideas that come forward from these drawings were of a highly scholarly character, but deviated from generally accepted Benedictine thinking, and more specifically from the considerations by Aquinas. His six drawings based on models of Madonna's from the Italian peninsula show an affective approach to Mariology. His attention for popular devotion, in addition to the intellectual Benedictine scholarship, led him to the images and statues of the Madonna, especially those with a miraculous history, and mainly those that were attributed to Saint Luke.
Ricci collected various arguments in order to connect Aquinas's intellectual stance on the devotion of Mary with her popular devotion. He started his argumentation in the devout practice of the creation of images of the Madonna in a new and erudite iconography, as can be seen in the first three drawings. A change is visible in the final three drawings, when Ricci stopped changing the iconography, and coincidentally paid more attention to the argument of popular devotion, taking more and more distance from Aquinas's intellectual approach. The final drawing shows that Ricci had completely internalised this devotion to the Virgin into a personal affection.
Yet what is clear in all six examples is that the creative act of drawing the Madonna, following the example of Saint Luke, is the devotional practice that brings humans the closest to the divine. For Ricci, because he was an artist, Saint Luke could replace Aquinas as an authority in devotional matters concerning Mary. It is clear that Ricci knew Carducho's and De la Cerda's descriptions of the idea that an artist's external devotion to Mary was mirrored by an internal 'painting' of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin. This comes forward in Ricci's rather consequent practice of crowning his Madonna's, preferably with the Trinitarian symbol of the triregnum, and it results in Ricci's adoration of Mary by latria.
Although the Order of Saint Benedict is a religious network that follows one Rule, a contrasting practice concerning the veneration of sacred images can be seen in the two congregations in this period, which culminates in Ricci's drawings of the Madonna's. Ricci's commentary on Aquinas's guidelines for image worship is an example of a clash of ideas between Spain and the Papal States. The position taken by the Holy Office in Spain in the theoretical debate on images and image worship, as published posthumously by its member Francesco Pacheco, differed from the one agreed upon at the Council of Trent, and also the position described by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti in the Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane, published in 1582. 85 Latria, the highest form of veneration, reserved by Aquinas for the divine, was reserved by Paleotti for the Eucharist exclusively. As a consequence, according to Paleotti it was impossible to sacralise images, and merely 'honor their memorial quality and the "intention" with which they were made'. 86 Pacheco however opposed to Paleotti's ideas on worship of holy images and objects. For Pacheco, latria was appropriate for objects and images of Christ because they replaced the 'divine person' himself. 87 Ricci held a unique position in this debate, since he stretched Pacheco's image theory and ideas on image worship to the veneration of images of the Madonna, extended latria to these sacred images, and introduced that level of image worship as an argument for Mary's divinity. For Ricci, sacred image theory did not direct the worship of images, but vice versa.
Because of the specific and individual nature of his theological practice, Ricci called it mystic theology instead of scholastic theology. His criticism of the guidelines by Aquinas and his personal emphasis on the Spanish and popular adoration of the Madonna did not reach further than his personal manuscripts, where he could develop his ideas about this issue. His prayer and theological scholarship went hand in hand, and crossed the realm of the verbal world into that of the image. Ricci's merge of ora and labora culminated during the creation of the drawings and materialised on the paper that he used for his theological artistry.