(Florence 1564–1607)
Christ’s Descent into Limbo,
signed lower left: ANDREA BOSCOLI DIPINSE,
oil on copper, 45 x 32 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Collection of the Borni family, Fivizzano, Tuscany 1655;
Collection of Contessa Elisabetta Della Rovere Ferrarese, San Vittore di Cingoli, Marche;
thence by descent;
sale, L’Antonina, Villa Rovere, San Vittore di Cingoli, 14–16 March 1996, lot 349 (as Andrea Boscoli);
where acquired by the present owner

Documented:
Inventario di casa Borni a Fivizzano, 1655, curated by R. Barbieri, p. 4: ‘In studio […] Un quadro d’altezza di braccio fiorentino con la cornice d’intorno d’argento, et Arme de Borni, in cima pure d’argento, et dipinto nel quandro l’andata che fece Nostro Signore al Limbo a liberare i tanti Padri. Pittura d’Andrea Boscoli’

This refined painting on copper represents the biblical scene of Christ’s descent into Limbo as recounted in the First Letter of Saint Peter (3: 18-19): just before the Resurrection, Christ descended into the underworld to visit Hades to liberate the just souls, taking them by the hand. On the lower left of the painting a demon is shown crushed by the portals of Hell, which have been destroyed at the arrival of the Saviour; it is upon these that the artist signed his name.

The various episodes of the Passion of Christ were among Boscoli’s preferred subjects, indeed in 1597 he executed a cycle of drawings on the theme which was subsequently translated into print by Pieter de Jode, and given to the press by the Sienese publisher, Matteo Florimi.

The inscription ‘Monsignor Borni’ on the back of the copper support permits the identification of the patron as one of the two prelates of the Borni family who became bishops during the first years of the seventeenth century: Antonio Borni, who was appointed bishop of Castro in 1604 by Clement VIII, or Carlo Borni who succeeded him in this role in 1614, and who had previously served as bishop of Corone (Koroni) in Greece. The Borni were a noble family of ancient linage from Fivizzano, in the Tuscan province of Massa Carrara.

Confirming this provenance, the present painting is clearly identifiable in an inventory of the Borni’s property drawn up in 1655, wherein it is described as ‘a painting one Florentine braccio high, with a silver frame and the Arms of the Borni above, also of silver, and painted in the picture the journey Our Lord made into Limbo to free the many Fathers. Painting by Andrea Boscoli’ – the Florentine braccio corresponds to about 58 cm, here the measurements evidently include the frame.

The same inventory documents another work by the same author ‘un quadro dove è ritratta l’effigie di S. Francesco che dorme. Pittura d’Andrea Boscoli di lunghezza di braccio e mezzo, di larghezza di due braccia incirca con cornice ordinaria’ [‘a picture representing Saint Francis asleep. Painting by Andrea Boscoli one braccio and a half long and about two braccia wide with an ordinary frame], this may be another version of the painting now preserved in the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale, Pisa (inv. no. 1780).

The painter and draughtsman Andrea Boscoli trained in Florence in the studio of Santi di Tito. His style combines elements of Counter-Reformation painting derived from his master, with a more creative component inspired by the artists active in the Studiolo of Francesco de’ Medici in Palazzo Vecchio, including Jacopo Coppi and Mirabello Cavalori.

During the 1580s the artist made a study trip to Rome which is documented by drawings and watercolours after antique sculpture and the works of Polidoro da Caravaggio. During his Roman stay Boscoli was also influenced by his exposure to the paintings of Jacopo Zucchi and Federico Zuccari. On his return to Tuscany, he dedicated himself to various important commissions such as the frescoes for the lesser cloister of San Pier Maggiore, Florence (1587) and those for the Villa di Corliano ai Bagni, Pisa (1592–1593) as well as those for the Carmelite church, the Carmine, Pisa, for which he also painted an altarpiece representing the Annunciation (1593). Between 1600 and 1605 Boscoli was in the Marches where his activity left a strong mark on local artists; during this period, he also began to study the new naturalism introduced in the Marches and Tuscany by Federico Barocci.