 A legend claims that Charpentier initially traveled to Rome to study painting before he was discovered by Carissimi.This story is undocumented and possibly untrue; at any rate, although his 28 volumes of autograph manuscripts reveal considerable skill at tracing the arabesques used by professional scribes, they contain not a single drawing, not even a rudimentary sketch.Regardless, he acquired a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian musical practice and brought it back to France.