ALESSANDRO ALLORI (1535-1607), attribué Lot n° 22

Madonna and Child Oil on panel Old labels and collection stamp on the back. In an old carved and gilded wood frame. Size : 86 x 63,5 cm The Virgin is represented seated, covered with a small headdress and carrying on her knees the Child Jesus covered with a cloth and holding an apple in her left hand. The Virgin's eyes are turned towards the Child. Condition reported: Worn, missing and old restorations. Provenance: Fischer, Luzern 1966, summer sale catalogue. Purchase invoice dated 25 June 1966 Since, Swiss and Monte Carlo private collection Documentation: Opinion of Professor Roberto Longhi, Florence, September 22, 1965 disputing the first attribution to Franciabigio and attributing the painting to Alessandro Allori because of similarities to his Master Bronzino. A Florentine Mannerist painter, he was the father of Cristofano Allori. His masters were a family friend, Angelo di Cosimo di Mariano, known as Il Bronzino, and later Michelangelo. In some respects, Allori is the latest in a line of eminent Florentine painters: Andrea del Sarto collaborated with Fra Bartolomeo (as well as Leonardo da Vinci), Pontormo was briefly Andrea's pupil and trained Bronzino, who himself trained Allori. Later generations were strongly influenced by the Baroque wave that dominated other parts of Italy. It was Alessandro Allori who completed Bronzino's last fresco in the Church of San Lorenzo. Marked by the sense of relief, the coldness of the enamel in the colours and the unnatural tone of the light, he worked in the style of his master. Influenced also by Michelangelo, for whom he would be in charge of the decorative pomp and circumstance of his funeral, Allori painted around 1560 a "Last Judgment" for the altarpiece of the Santissima Annunziata Church in Florence. In 1565, the Duke of Cosimo I commissioned him to paint the decorations for the wedding of his son, Francis of Medici.