ALESSANDRO ALLORI | Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

With Simon Dickinson, London;
From whom acquired by the present collector, 1996.

Florence, Palazzo Strozzi; Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, The Medici, Michelangelo, and the art of late Renaissance Florence, 9 November 2002 – 8 June 2003, no. 2;
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on loan, 5 September – 6 December 2006.

S.L. Giovannoni, “Ferdinando I dei Medici e Cristina di Lorena: immagini del potere e della devozione. Osservazioni su alcuni dipinti inediti,” in Arte musica spettacolo: Annali del Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti e dello Spettacolo, 2001, pp. 189-201;
M. Chiarini, A. Darr and C. Giannini, The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence, New Haven 2002, p. 138, cat. no. 2, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in very good condition overall. The arched-top silvered copper panel has a narrow border comprised of five pieces of metal, possibly added to aid in framing; the piece on the upper left is partially detached. The panel is otherwise free of defects. The highly detailed paint surface is nicely preserved, with a fresh appearance. Under close examination light wear is visible in some of the typically sensitive paints such as the brown paint used for the tree branches, final contours in the crucifix, and modeling in the figure of St. Jerome. Only a few minor touches of restoration are found in the painting, including a smattering of tiny dots in the sky adjacent the crucifix, a spot or two of retouching in the darkness of the cave opening, and compensation for two losses along the bottom edge and an area of rubbing along the right edge. The low gloss varnish is clear and even. The detached border element should be fixed and a more secure method of setting the painting in its frame devised, otherwise the painting may be displayed in its current state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Rediscovered in 2001 by Simona Lecchini Giovannoni, this small copper of St. Jerome in the Wildnerness is an important addition to the corpus of Alessandro Allori, one of the most sought after painters in Florence in the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries.  Giovannoni dates this work to the late 1570s, during which time Allori was exploring the same subject on a much larger scale in the vault of the Gaddi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella. Around this same period, Allori executed two other small scale paintings depicting contemplative saints in a landscape, including a small Saint Mary Magdalene (Private Collection, Bergamo) and a Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (Private Collection, New York).²   After the death of his father at the young age of five, Allori became the adopted son and pupil of Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), and like his mentor, he enjoyed the patronage of the Medici and other elite citizens of the city of Florence.  Evidenced in much of Allori’s work is his reverence for the masters that preceded him as well as the influence of the artistic environment thriving around him, and the present work is no exception.  Here, the dynamic musculature of Saint Jerome recalls the figures of Michelangelo, whose works Allori studied on a sojourn to Rome from 1554-1560, while the detailed vegetation around the cave and in the landscape echoes the meticulous observation found in works by his northern contemporaries, a number of whom were active in Bronzino’s studio.  

Despite its small size, the present composition is exquisitely detailed. Clearly visible is Allori’s extraordinary ability to paint varying textures on a small scale, from the coolness of the stone cave to the warmth and vigor of Jerome’s musculature body, and from the to the loose billowing folds of his red cloth to the minutely rendered foliage and landscape in the distance.   Allori's distinct and detailed technique was a defining characteristic of his prolific career, and the artistic prowess in the present work foreshadows that of Allori's mature career, as seen in his later panel of the same subject today in the Princeton University Art Museum.³ 

1.  This faint signature, location, and inscription in the lower left corner of the copper plate is stylistically consistent with those found on other works by Allori. For example, Allori's Susanna and the Elders in the Musée Magnin is signed ALEXANDER AL/RIVS. C. FLO / ANG / LI BRONZIN / ALUMNUS / FAVIEBAT / ADMD.LXI.  See Giovannoni 1991, p. 220, cat. no. 18.  His Baptism of Christ in the National Gallery, Prague, is signed ALEXANDER ALLORIVS C. FLO. FACIEBAT MDLXX, ibid., p. 226, cat. no. 26.  

2.  The former: oil on canvas, 59 by 74 cm. See S.L. Giovannoni, Alessandro Allori, Turin 1991, p. 233, cat. no. 43, reproduced fig. 79. The latter: oil on copper, 39.5 by 30 cm., ibid., p. 232, cat. no. 41, reproduced fig. 77.

3.  Inv. no. y1987-24, oil on panel, 52.7 by 41.6 cm, dated 1606.  See ibid, p. 193, cat. no. 173, reproduced fig. 404.