Lot No. 633


Sebastiano Marsili


Sebastiano Marsili - Old Master Paintings

(active in Florence in the second half of the 16th Century)
Portrait of a Lady and Child, possibly Alessandra di Vieri de’ Medici,
oil on panel, 83 x 60.5 cm, unframed

Inscribed verso: ALESANDRA / DI VERI DE MEDICI, DI ANNI XXXII LANNO / MDL XXXI / fatto per mano di Bastiano Marsilij

We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Pilliod for confirming the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph.

We are also grateful to Professor Mina Gregori for independently confirming the attribution after examining the painting in the original.

Alessandra (b. 1549) a daughter of Attlio de’ Medici, is portrayed at the age of 32 with one of her children, probably Ottaviano, who was born March 22, 1577.(1) Her husband Vieri (Veri) di Niccolò di Tanai de’ Medici (b. 1527-d. ca. 1600?), a trusted Medici functionary, held the post of Provveditore Generale delle Fabbriche (general superintendent of non-military construction) from 1559. He administered payments for work on ducal building projects at the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti, as well as at the Villas of Poggio a Caiano, Castello and Cerreto Guidi. According to Litta (Famiglie Celebri Italiane, tav. VII), Vieri and his wife had five children: Cammillo, Ottavio, Emilio, Roberto and Caterina. As her husband remarried and his only recorded surviving offspring was from that second marriage, it is likely that Alessandra died not long after this portrait was made. It is also possible that the picture commemorates her at her death.

The format and style of this portrait is based on the portraits painted by the leading artist of the 1580s in Florence, Alessandro Allori (1535–1607). It compares closely with a portrait attributed to Scipione Pulzone and identified as Bianca Cappello, in which the sitter’s hair similarly curls away from her forehead and a dark red carnation is tucked into her bodice.(2) These details, as well as her dress, consisting of an outer sleeveless mantle (zimarra) with contrasting undergarment covered in gold embroidery, a roll marking the juncture of the shoulder with the sleeve, and the fine lace collar, confirm the date of the picture. The carnation at her bodice is a symbol of her love and devotion to her husband, while the coral necklace and bracelet worn by the little child were believed toward off harm.

On the verso of the panel are two contemporary inscriptions, the first identifies the sitter and gives her age and the year of the painting.(3) The second, “fatto per mano di Bastiano Marsilj,” reveals the artist of the portrait as Sebastian Marsili who had contributed the painting of Atalante and Hippomenes to the Studiolo of Francesco I in the 1570s. Marsili, who knew Alessandro Allori well from their collaboration in the Studiolo, seems to have copied Allori’s portrait type precisely. The outlines of Alessandra’s hands exactly match ones drawn by Allori, suggesting that Marsili used drawings or cartoons by Allori. Marsili is also known to have cut the wood blocks for the illustrations in Raffaello Gualterotti’s description of the wedding of Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici to Bianca Cappello: the Feste nelle Nozze del Serenissimo Don Francesco Medici Gran Duca di Toscano et …Bianca Cappello, published in Florence, 1579. His participation is recorded in a prominent inscription at the bottom of the plate facing page 12 in the Feste nelle Nozze, which is written in Roman letters similar to the ones used in the inscription identifying Alessandra on the verso of our picture. Marsili therefore may have himself written the inscription on the present panel identifying Alessandra and attesting to his authorship.
We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Pilliod for her help in the cataloguing of this lot.

(1) Another son, Emilio, was born in 1572 and had as one of his godparents Cammilla Martelli, mistress and second wife of Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici. The birthdates of the other children have not been found.
(2) Previously attributed to Alessandro Allori, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Musuem. Known in other versions and nearly identical to a portrait of the same sitter with her son by Lavina Fontana in the Uffizi. See Roy Bolton, ed., The Art Collectors, Sphinx Fine Art, London, cat. 32.
(3) A third inscription at the bottom of the verso is later, as the use of quotation marks attests. It most likely was an attempt to attribute the image to Alessandro Allori’s master, Bronzino, or a confusion of their names because Allori had frequently appended “Bronzino” to his own name, leading to confusion between Allori and Bronzino in subsequent centuries.

17.04.2013 - 18:00

Realized price: **
EUR 201,600.-
Estimate:
EUR 150,000.- to EUR 200,000.-

Sebastiano Marsili


(active in Florence in the second half of the 16th Century)
Portrait of a Lady and Child, possibly Alessandra di Vieri de’ Medici,
oil on panel, 83 x 60.5 cm, unframed

Inscribed verso: ALESANDRA / DI VERI DE MEDICI, DI ANNI XXXII LANNO / MDL XXXI / fatto per mano di Bastiano Marsilij

We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Pilliod for confirming the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph.

We are also grateful to Professor Mina Gregori for independently confirming the attribution after examining the painting in the original.

Alessandra (b. 1549) a daughter of Attlio de’ Medici, is portrayed at the age of 32 with one of her children, probably Ottaviano, who was born March 22, 1577.(1) Her husband Vieri (Veri) di Niccolò di Tanai de’ Medici (b. 1527-d. ca. 1600?), a trusted Medici functionary, held the post of Provveditore Generale delle Fabbriche (general superintendent of non-military construction) from 1559. He administered payments for work on ducal building projects at the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti, as well as at the Villas of Poggio a Caiano, Castello and Cerreto Guidi. According to Litta (Famiglie Celebri Italiane, tav. VII), Vieri and his wife had five children: Cammillo, Ottavio, Emilio, Roberto and Caterina. As her husband remarried and his only recorded surviving offspring was from that second marriage, it is likely that Alessandra died not long after this portrait was made. It is also possible that the picture commemorates her at her death.

The format and style of this portrait is based on the portraits painted by the leading artist of the 1580s in Florence, Alessandro Allori (1535–1607). It compares closely with a portrait attributed to Scipione Pulzone and identified as Bianca Cappello, in which the sitter’s hair similarly curls away from her forehead and a dark red carnation is tucked into her bodice.(2) These details, as well as her dress, consisting of an outer sleeveless mantle (zimarra) with contrasting undergarment covered in gold embroidery, a roll marking the juncture of the shoulder with the sleeve, and the fine lace collar, confirm the date of the picture. The carnation at her bodice is a symbol of her love and devotion to her husband, while the coral necklace and bracelet worn by the little child were believed toward off harm.

On the verso of the panel are two contemporary inscriptions, the first identifies the sitter and gives her age and the year of the painting.(3) The second, “fatto per mano di Bastiano Marsilj,” reveals the artist of the portrait as Sebastian Marsili who had contributed the painting of Atalante and Hippomenes to the Studiolo of Francesco I in the 1570s. Marsili, who knew Alessandro Allori well from their collaboration in the Studiolo, seems to have copied Allori’s portrait type precisely. The outlines of Alessandra’s hands exactly match ones drawn by Allori, suggesting that Marsili used drawings or cartoons by Allori. Marsili is also known to have cut the wood blocks for the illustrations in Raffaello Gualterotti’s description of the wedding of Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici to Bianca Cappello: the Feste nelle Nozze del Serenissimo Don Francesco Medici Gran Duca di Toscano et …Bianca Cappello, published in Florence, 1579. His participation is recorded in a prominent inscription at the bottom of the plate facing page 12 in the Feste nelle Nozze, which is written in Roman letters similar to the ones used in the inscription identifying Alessandra on the verso of our picture. Marsili therefore may have himself written the inscription on the present panel identifying Alessandra and attesting to his authorship.
We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Pilliod for her help in the cataloguing of this lot.

(1) Another son, Emilio, was born in 1572 and had as one of his godparents Cammilla Martelli, mistress and second wife of Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici. The birthdates of the other children have not been found.
(2) Previously attributed to Alessandro Allori, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Musuem. Known in other versions and nearly identical to a portrait of the same sitter with her son by Lavina Fontana in the Uffizi. See Roy Bolton, ed., The Art Collectors, Sphinx Fine Art, London, cat. 32.
(3) A third inscription at the bottom of the verso is later, as the use of quotation marks attests. It most likely was an attempt to attribute the image to Alessandro Allori’s master, Bronzino, or a confusion of their names because Allori had frequently appended “Bronzino” to his own name, leading to confusion between Allori and Bronzino in subsequent centuries.


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Auction: Old Master Paintings
Auction type: Saleroom auction
Date: 17.04.2013 - 18:00
Location: Vienna | Palais Dorotheum
Exhibition: 06.04. - 17.04.2013


** Purchase price incl. charges and taxes

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