Francesco Montelatici, called Cecco Bravo

Florence, Casa Buonarroti, Cecco Bravo, pittore senza regola, 23 June-30 September 1999, no. 25 (as Cecco Bravo).

M. Gregori, 'Felice Riposo', in Comma, vol. IV, 3, 1968, p. 27 (as Felice Ficherelli);
G. Cantelli, 'Precisazioni sulla pittura fiorentina del Seicento: i furiniani', in Antichità viva, vol. X, 4, 1971, p. 7, (as Felice Ficherelli);
M. Gregori, 'A Cross-Section of Florentine Seicento Painting. The Piero Bigongiari Collection', in Apollo, vol. C, 151, 1974, pp. 226-27 (here and henceforth as Cecco Bravo);
G. Cantelli, 'Per Simone Pignoni', in Antichità viva, vol. XIII, 2, 1974, pp. 26, 31, note 36;
P. Bigongiari, Il caso e il caos. Il Seicento fiorentino tra Galileo e il "recitar cantando", Florence 1982, pp. 70-71;
A. Barsanti and R. Contini (eds.), Cecco Bravo, pittore senza regola, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1999, pp. 90-91, cat. no. 25, reproduced in colour;
S. Bellesi, Catalogo dei pittori fiorentini del '600 e del '700, Florence 2009, vol. I, p. 204;
F. Baldassari, La pittura del Seicento a Firenze, Indice degli artisti e delle loro opere, Turin 2009, p. 557, reproduced p. 580, fig. 339;
G. Cantelli, Repertorio della pittura fiorentina del Sicento, Aggiornamento, Florence 2009, vol. I, p. 151, reproduced vol. II, p. 263, fig. 212.

The painting is richer in colour than the catalogue illustration suggests The old relining is still taut and the paint surface is secure if dirty under the yellowed varnish. In many areas the impasto is well conserved. Frame abrasion is present to the left edge with some excessive retouching. A clumsily restored hole can be made out above and to the left of Christ's head. Some of the darker tones appear sunken and the blue fold of Christ's blue sleeve has degraded. The angels in the background upper right are abraded, as is Christ's hair. Some localised flaking can be observed lower left. The face of Christ and the angel centre left are better conserved. Offered in a carved and painted wooden frame with some knocks but structurally sound.
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Datable to the 1650s, this picture is one of very few extant devotional works by Cecco and was almost certainly painted for a private chapel. The strong contrasts between light and shadow are stylistically comparable to Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the Uffizi, Florence.¹

1. See A. Bersanti, under Literature, pp. 88-89, cat. no. 24, reproduced in colour.