Alessandro Allori (Florence 1535 – 1607), Portrait of Francesco I De' Medici (1541-1587), bust length. Photo Sotheby's.

oil on lead with gold leaf, a tondo; diameter: 2 7/8 in.; 7.3 cm. Estimation 40,000 — 60,000 USD

Provenance: Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 2004, lot 172, where acquired by the present collector.

Litterature: M. Scalini, "La Galleria delle Meraviglie", in Oggetti d'arte della famiglia Medici, exhibition catalogue, Beijing and Shanghai 1997, p. 42, reproduced.

Francesco I was the son of Cosimo de Medici and Eleonor of Toledo and ruled as second Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1574 until his death in 1587. The celebrated portrait of Francesco as a boy in the Uffizi in Florence was painted by Allori's mentor, Agnolo Bronzino, underlining the continuous close relationship between the Medici court and the leading artists of the day.1

Datable to around 1558, the present painting was probably a gift from Francesco to his sister Lucrezia on the occasion of her marriage to the Ferrarese Duke Alfonso II d'Este in June 1588. At the same time she is thought to have given Francesco a portrait of herself, which he is shown holding in another portrait by Allori in the Villa di Poggio Imperiale in Florence.2

The attribution has been endorsed by Professor Janet Cox-Rearick (written report to the present owner).

1. See E. Baccheschi, L'Opera completa del Bronzino, Milan 1973, p. 100, cat. no. 88, reproduced.
2. See S. Lecchini Giovannoni, Alessandro Allori, Turin 1991, p. 303, cat. no. 180, reproduced fig. 414.

Sotheby's. The Courts of Europe. New York | 30 janv. 2014 - www.sothebys.com