Ottavio Vannini

The recto of this double sided sheet is preparatory for the figures of two architects to the left of Vannini's fresco depicting Lorenzo the Magnificent surrounded by Florentine Artists, (fig. 1) in the Sala degli Argenti of the Palazzo Pitti.¹  The verso, which appeared when the drawing was lifted from the old mount after the sale of 1995 (see Provenance), seems to be a separate study, three quarter length, for the architect holding a scroll.  On this side, the artist emphasizes the figure's left shoulder and arm with a high degree of finish, as opposed to his emphasis of the right-hand side of the figure on the recto.

The fresco filled a space below a window, and with two others on either side which, along with other walls, was left unfinished on the death of Giovanni da San Giovanni in 1636.  Vannini worked on this commission, the most prestigious that he received from the Medici family, from 1638 until 1642.  The remaining walls were then decorated by Francesco Furini and Cecco Bravo, thereby completing the most important and extroardinary decorative ensemble of the Florentine Baroque.

1.  G. Cantelli, Repertorio dell la Pittura fiorentina del Seicento, Fiesole 1983, reproduced figs. 704-705