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拍品專文
This arresting portrait shows a young man dressed in sumptuous clothing, standing with his left hand resting on his sword and his right arm draped around the head of a dog. The sitter's pose follows sixteenth-century Florentine courtly conventions that hark back to illustrious prototypes by Bronzino, such as the Portrait of Guidobaldo della Rovere (Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence) or the Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), models that were certainly known to Alessandro Allori, Bronzino's adopted son and principal heir to his artistic legacy.
This portrait is datable to the early 1590s, a period in which Allori turned increasingly to Flemish painting as a means of moving beyond Giorgio Vasari's ‘modern Florentine manner’ toward a greater naturalism. Here, seemingly conflicting elements coexist: in painting the almost-white doublet, Allori employs rapid brushstrokes to animate the ripples and shadows of the fabric, while the gold-embroidered orange lozenges and dark tones of the slashed openings are rendered with painterly freedom. At the same time, Flemish precision is manifest in the articulated landscape composed of windswept trees, rocky gorges, and waving clouds, as well as in the broad lace collar whose bright form frames the young man's face. These stylistic traits can be compared with works securely datable to the late 1580s and early 1590s, notably The Temptation of Saint Benedict (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), in which the landscape is similar both in overall design and in the execution of the foliage, seemingly painted leaf by leaf.
The young man appears to be between fifteen and sixteen years of age, depicted still beardless with a thin moustache. If the dating to the early 1590s is correct, a plausible identification may be made with Don Antonio de' Medici (1576-1621), the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Francesco I and Bianca Cappello. Born just two years before the death of Giovanna d'Austria, Francesco's lawful wife, Antonio was only legitimized by his father in 1584. However, following Francesco I's sudden death in October 1587, the young Antonio’s prospects of becoming heir apparent were quickly undermined by his uncle, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who cast doubt on his paternity and compelled him to enter the Order of the Knights of Malta in 1594. Significantly, the sitter here wears no Maltese cross, suggesting the portrait predates Antonio's investiture. A comparison with later portraits of Don Antonio, including one by an unknown artist at the Villa Medicea di Cerreto Guidi and the portrait by Domenico and Valore Casini of circa 1610-15 (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence), reveals consistent physiognomic features, particularly the high forehead and elongated eyes.
A smaller, half-length version of this composition, without the landscape, is in the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (inv. MASP.00022; fig. 1). That panel has been attributed to Allori's studio and may represent either a preparatory model or a record of the larger, more finished painting. Such practices were common in Bronzino's workshop, where smaller variants served as 'memory' images of sitters' physiognomies.
The present lot was formerly paired with a female portrait of similar dimensions (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MNR 800; fig. 2). Both paintings descended through the French aristocratic families of Rochechouart-Mortemart and La Rochefoucauld before passing through the Paris art market during the Second World War. Acquired from the dealer Charles Michel in February 1943 by Karl Haberstock, acting for Adolf Hitler's projected Führermuseum at Linz, the present lot was deposited in the salt mines at Altaussee in Austria for safekeeping. Following the Allied occupation in May 1945, the painting was recovered by the Monuments Men and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, from which it was repatriated to the French authorities in June 1948. While its 'pendant' entered the Louvre, the present portrait passed through the London market before being acquired by Morris I. Kaplan of Chicago, at whose posthumous sale in 1968 it was bought by private collectors in the United States. The attribution to Allori was endorsed by Federico Zeri prior to that sale; Zeri also suggested that the landscape may have been painted by the Flemish artist Tobias Verhaecht (see Provenance).
We are grateful to Carlo Falciani, who has examined the painting firsthand, for endorsing the attribution to Allori and for providing his unpublished entry, which forms the basis of this catalogue note.
This portrait is datable to the early 1590s, a period in which Allori turned increasingly to Flemish painting as a means of moving beyond Giorgio Vasari's ‘modern Florentine manner’ toward a greater naturalism. Here, seemingly conflicting elements coexist: in painting the almost-white doublet, Allori employs rapid brushstrokes to animate the ripples and shadows of the fabric, while the gold-embroidered orange lozenges and dark tones of the slashed openings are rendered with painterly freedom. At the same time, Flemish precision is manifest in the articulated landscape composed of windswept trees, rocky gorges, and waving clouds, as well as in the broad lace collar whose bright form frames the young man's face. These stylistic traits can be compared with works securely datable to the late 1580s and early 1590s, notably The Temptation of Saint Benedict (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), in which the landscape is similar both in overall design and in the execution of the foliage, seemingly painted leaf by leaf.
The young man appears to be between fifteen and sixteen years of age, depicted still beardless with a thin moustache. If the dating to the early 1590s is correct, a plausible identification may be made with Don Antonio de' Medici (1576-1621), the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Francesco I and Bianca Cappello. Born just two years before the death of Giovanna d'Austria, Francesco's lawful wife, Antonio was only legitimized by his father in 1584. However, following Francesco I's sudden death in October 1587, the young Antonio’s prospects of becoming heir apparent were quickly undermined by his uncle, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who cast doubt on his paternity and compelled him to enter the Order of the Knights of Malta in 1594. Significantly, the sitter here wears no Maltese cross, suggesting the portrait predates Antonio's investiture. A comparison with later portraits of Don Antonio, including one by an unknown artist at the Villa Medicea di Cerreto Guidi and the portrait by Domenico and Valore Casini of circa 1610-15 (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence), reveals consistent physiognomic features, particularly the high forehead and elongated eyes.
A smaller, half-length version of this composition, without the landscape, is in the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (inv. MASP.00022; fig. 1). That panel has been attributed to Allori's studio and may represent either a preparatory model or a record of the larger, more finished painting. Such practices were common in Bronzino's workshop, where smaller variants served as 'memory' images of sitters' physiognomies.
The present lot was formerly paired with a female portrait of similar dimensions (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. MNR 800; fig. 2). Both paintings descended through the French aristocratic families of Rochechouart-Mortemart and La Rochefoucauld before passing through the Paris art market during the Second World War. Acquired from the dealer Charles Michel in February 1943 by Karl Haberstock, acting for Adolf Hitler's projected Führermuseum at Linz, the present lot was deposited in the salt mines at Altaussee in Austria for safekeeping. Following the Allied occupation in May 1945, the painting was recovered by the Monuments Men and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, from which it was repatriated to the French authorities in June 1948. While its 'pendant' entered the Louvre, the present portrait passed through the London market before being acquired by Morris I. Kaplan of Chicago, at whose posthumous sale in 1968 it was bought by private collectors in the United States. The attribution to Allori was endorsed by Federico Zeri prior to that sale; Zeri also suggested that the landscape may have been painted by the Flemish artist Tobias Verhaecht (see Provenance).
We are grateful to Carlo Falciani, who has examined the painting firsthand, for endorsing the attribution to Allori and for providing his unpublished entry, which forms the basis of this catalogue note.