Attributed to Cristofano dell'Altissimo (Florence... Lot 44

Attributed to Cristofano dell'Altissimo (Florence 1525 (?) - 1605) Portrait of Uguccione della Faggiola Oil on panel 67 x 51 cm The work, of which there are several versions, is to be referred to the exemplar preserved in the Uffizi, already mentioned by Vasari in 1568 as being present in Palazzo Vecchio. The idea of creating a gallery of portraits of illustrious men, the so-called "Gioviana" collection, came from Cosimo I. In 1552 he sent the painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo to Como to copy the many portraits in the collection of Bishop Paolo Giovio. The latter, in fact, since 1521 had begun the collection of portraits, which reached the number of four hundred works. The Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo painted the initial nucleus of two hundred and eighty-four paintings, executed on wood. Born in Florence presumably between 1525 and 1530, we do not know his exact surname. Its pictorial making denounces a proximity to its masters: Bronzino and the Pontormo. Given the success of its gallery of portraits, it passed its artistic existence almost exclusively to paint the series "Gioviana" innumerable times, so much so that the Florentine Galleries count several copies in their deposits. Attributed to Cristofano dell'Altissimo (Florence 1525 (?) - 1605) Portrait of Uguccione della Faggiola Oil on panel 67 x 51 cm The artwork, of which there are several versions, refers to the specimen kept in the Uffizi, already mentioned by Vasari in 1568 as present in Palazzo Vecchio.