The portrait represents bianca cappello, lover and then wife of the grand duke francesco i de' medici, after his assumption of the grand ducal throne (1578). The grand duchess is represented dressed in brown with white, red and gold embroidery and quilts. Nineteenth-century frame, carved with ovoli and minute spirals, and gilded. The work was traditionally attributed to agnolo allori, alessandro allori's teacher, but the attribution, not convincing for stylistic reasons, also appears incongruous for external reasons (bronzino died in 1572). Currently, critics no longer recognize bronzino's autography in any of the portraits, even youthful ones, of cappello, once attributed to him, partly due to the confusion that existed, until the modern age, in the catalog of the works of the two almost homonymous painters, master and disciple. Venturi (1933) moved this portrait, in a more convincing way, within the works of alessandro allori, of whom an entire series of paintings depicting cappello is known, from the most youthful one in the uffizi, to those in pitti, again in the uffizi (from olmi di mugello), in vienna, in palazzo medici ricciardi etc. However, doubts remain regarding the complete lorian autography of this work. If we compare it with the example in palazzo medici ricciardi, similar in pose, in the attitude of the face and gaze and in the age of the portrayed figure, we note in the lucca editorial a clearer rendering of the planes of the face and hands, of almost metallic intonation, compact and smooth, without chiaroscuro effects, which was typical of allori in the first years of his activity, but which does not find confirmation in other works of this period (1580-85). We will therefore have to assume the intervention of a student, on allori's own design system, and keeping in mind a model of the master. Object Type: painting. Date: between 1579 and 1583. Dimensions: height: 99 cm (38.9 in); width: 73 cm (28.7 in). Medium: oil on panel. Collection: Palazzo Mansi National Museum. Girolamo Macchietti - Portrait of Bianca Cappello - WGA13797
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