Large Religious oil painting on canvas
Large Religious oil painting on canvas, unsigned, in the manner of Cristofano Allori, approximately 55" x 43". Possibly "Judith and the head of Holfernes"
Alessandro Allori (1535-1607),
Florentine painter, the pupil and adopted son of Bronzino. An
early visit to Rome added the influence of late Michelangelo
paintings to that of his master's courtly Mannerism. The Pearl
Fishers (Studiolo of Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, c.1570)
is generally considered his masterpiece; playful and full of
artifice, it combines nude figures obviously drawn from
Michelangelo with Bronzino's svelteness and enamelled colouring.
He was one of the last notable exponents of Mannerism, painting
in a style that had become outmoded by the time of his death. His son Cristofano (1577-1621)
was one of the leading Florentine painters of his period, working
in a style that was more naturalistic and Baroque than that of
his father. He is remembered primarily for one work, Judith with
the Head of Holofernes (c. 1615, Pitti, Florence, and other
versions), in which his femme fatale mistress is portrayed as
Judith and he has depicted his own features in Holofernes'
severed head. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was one of the
most famous paintings in Italy. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
possesses portraits by both Alessandro and Cristofano Allori. Reference Web Gallery of Art (http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/bio/a/allori/cristofa/biograph.html)
Asking price 14489 United States Dollars