COSIMO GAMBERUCCI, attribuito a

COSIMO GAMBERUCCI, attributed to MADONNA WITH CHILD AND SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST (IN THE STYLE OF ANDREA DEL SARTO) COSIMO GAMBERUCCI, attributed to Florence 1562 – 1621 Florence Oil on canvas 107 x 82 cm / 42.1 x 32.3 inches, framed 125 x 101 cm / 49.2 x 39.8 inches PROVENANCE Private collection, Spain A REPUBLICAN ICONOGRAPHY REVISITED IN EARLY SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FLORENCE At first glance, this image of the Virgin with the Child Jesus and the young Saint John the Baptist evokes the sweetness and serenity typical of devotional scenes in early seventeenth-century Florence. But at its heart lies a political message of surprising clarity — a message that shook the very foundations of Medici power. The motif of Saint John offering the globe to Christ — a symbol of temporal power — was not a mere religious allegory. It was a bold act of visual subversion, rooted in the brief but fervent years of the Florentine Republic (1527–1530), when the Medici were exiled and the city, inspired as much by classical republicanism as by the preaching of Girolamo Savonarola, proclaimed Christ as its only king: Rex Populi Fiorentini. On February 9, 1528, this \"election\" of Christ was made official, and an inscription to that effect was placed above the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio. It was in this revolutionary context that Andrea del Sarto, celebrated by Vasari as \"the painter without errors,\" created one of his most ideologically charged works: The Holy Family with the young Saint John the Baptist, commissioned by Giovanni Borgherini — a staunch republican and son-in-law of Niccolò Capponi, gonfaloniere and de facto leader of the Republic. The political message of the work, combined with the sublime harmony of the composition, made it one of the most admired and replicated images of its time. Today, the original is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The painting presented here, attributed by Professor Roberto Ciabattoni to Cosimo Gamberucci, is much more than a pious quotation. Executed in Florence probably in the early decades of the seventeenth century, it reflects not only a deep reverence for Andrea's model, but also a lasting devotion to the ideals it embodies. Almost a century after the fall of the Republic, this work testifies to the persistent strength of its vision. Cosimo Gamberucci, born in Florence in 1562, trained in the workshop of Santi di Tito and was known for his exceptional graphic ability — so much so that several of his drawings were long attributed to the master. A respected member of the Accademia del Disegno, Gamberucci was active in important commissions throughout Tuscany, with a style that blended the compositional clarity of Andrea del Sarto with a theatricality and emotional expressiveness typical of the early Baroque. In this painting, we see a faithful reworking of Andrea's structure: the Virgin tenderly watches over the Son; Joseph, barely visible, recedes into the shadows; and John the Baptist, solemn and deliberate, presents the globe — not as a gift of the world, but as a symbol of Florentine loyalty to its true sovereign: Christ. This work is therefore not a simple homage. It is an echo — proud, lasting, eloquent — of a moment in history when Florence dared to crown a king not of blood, but of spirit.