Santi di Tito (Sansepolcro, 1536 - Florence, 1603)
Portrait of a noblewoman, half-length, with a book in her hand
16th century
oil on panel (75 x 61 cm - with frame 115 x 101 x 10 cm.)
Provenance:
Private collection, Switzerland
Vienna Palais Dorotheum, 10.11.2020, lot 13 (Estimate: Eur 40,000-60,000)
URL: https://www.dorotheum.com/it/l/6937663/
The high-quality portrait offered has been attributed by Carlo Falciani (on the occasion of the Dorotheum auction in 2020) to the painter Santi di Tito, not only one of the most influential figures in the Florentine artistic scene, but also the most interesting portrait painter in the city in the second half of the sixteenth century.
The scholar has in particular proposed a dating towards the end of the 1570s, coinciding with the most fruitful and happy years of the Florentine painter: Santi di Tito in fact contributed to overcoming late mannerism, in the name of the recovery of a realism with classicist and neo-fifteenth-century characteristics.
The attribution of this portrait to the painter is immediately evident due to the unmistakable oval and firm design of the face, rendered with a complexion with compact pinkish tones, which retain a notation of light and natural sensitivity in line with the Counter-Reformation dictates, of which the painter was one of the most faithful proponents on the Florentine scene.
Also typical of his style is the firm and volumetric representation of the dress, finely defined in the small carvings of the embroidery, but at the same time typically simplified in the sleeves and bust; even the luministic notation with which the design is highlighted through compact but thin and transparent layers, or the large white ruff that gives a clear light to the entire painting, are his distinctive signature.
As suggested by the scholar, we can compare our painting to the ‘’Portrait of Guido Guardi with his children’’ [1], in a private collection, executed between 1564 and 1568 and exhibited at the exhibition Il Cinquecento a Firenze (Palazzo Strozzi 2017-2018, n. IV. 5, pp. 156-157); in this, even in a male portrait, Santi di Tito uses the same formal figure in the rendering of faces and ruffs. Also in the present portrait, the solid volume and the powerful figure of the character are set on a monochrome background, similar to that of Guido Guardi with his children.
Santi di Tito trained in Florence in Bronzino's workshop, from whom he learned the predilection for rounded and luminous volumes to which was added an attention to compositional clarity and naturalism imposed by the dictates of the Counter-Reformation, which led him to study the style of Scipione Pulzone and the Zuccari, whom he met both in Florence and during his Roman stay.
Over the years, the Bronzino-like character increasingly leans towards a softer and more sensitive painting, with results of ever greater naturalness, to which our Portrait of a Woman seems to belong.
Judging by the level of the commissions, Santi di Tito became one of the most important Florentine portrait painters of his time, and this role derives precisely from his pictorial ability and his interest in naturalistic data, combined with the knowledge of the Florentine tradition design, which placed him as the natural heir, like Allori, of the path opened by Bronzino.
[1] Santi di Tito (Florence 1563-1603) Portrait of Guido Guardi with his children
1564/68-1570/80, oil on panel, cm 98.4 x 75. - Private collection
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The painting is sold complete with a pleasant gilded frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic sheet.
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