Portrait of a Man
Francesco di Cristofano, called Franciabigio (1484–1525)
1517
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Franciabigio, who died at the relatively early age of forty-one, belonged to the same generation as such notable Florentine artists as Andrea del Sarto, Rosso Fiorentino, and Pontormo. What is more, he worked alongside them on major commissions for the atrium of Santissima Annunziata, the Chiostro dello Scalzo, the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano, and the Benintendi bedroom, and at his best he was a very gifted painter, yet he has arguably never been given his due.
One of the areas in which he excelled was portraiture, and while it is not hard to see a kinship between his efforts in this line and those of Andrea del Sarto around the same time, Franciabigio’s is an entirely distinctive voice. In the present work, which unusually for the artist is painted on fine canvas as opposed to panel, the psychological intensity of the observation of the sitter’s brooding, melancholy aspect is only enhanced by the rigorous absence of potentially distracting attributes or background details. Instead the man is seen in close-up, dressed in austere shades of black and white, and set against a neutral green backdrop, which is only enlivened by a small piece of curling paper affixed to the wall by a dot of red sealing-wax. It bears neither signature nor monogram, but instead the year 1517 in Roman capitals (‘A.D.M.D.XVII’), presumably followed by the month and day, with D.X.S standing for ‘D[ie] X S[eptembris]’ (the tenth day of September).
- Material/technique
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 55 × 40 cm
- Acquisition
- acquired in 1879 by Prince Johann II von Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Francesco di Cristofano, called Franciabigio
- Inventory number
- GE 851
- Provenance
- acquired in 1879 by Prince Johann II von Liechtenstein from the estate of Marchese Gino Capponi, Florence
- Iconography
- male portrait, not identified
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