Domenico da Gambassi

Description

This casually posed and loosely rendered portrait originally made up part of the lower section, or predella, of an altarpiece for a church in Gambassi, near Florence. The images of the patron, Domenico, and his wife, Lucrezia, flanked additional, now-lost works. The painted strapwork around the portraits, discovered during recent conservation treatment, once formed part of a decorative pattern that would have extended throughout the predella; it indicates how all the individual paintings were interconnected. Andrea del Sarto added highlights at the bottom of each roundel, mimicking the natural light of the church, to create the illusion of the paintings being set within a three-dimensional frame.

Provenance

Probably incorporated into the Gambassi altarpiece, Church of Santi Lorenzo e Onofrio, Benedictine Convent of the Romite, Gambassi (near Volterra), by 1525/28 to no later than 1637 [see Lloyd 1993]. Probably Medici Collection, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, by 1637 [see Conti 1983–84, pp. 162–63]. Possibly Leopold de’Medici (died 1675), Villa del Poggio Imperiale, Florence, by 1655 [Trkulja 1976, p. 12 suggested that they could be identified with entries in the inventories of 1655 and 1692: Due quadretti in tavola, alti s. 7 lari 1/4 dipintovj in tondo di mano d’Andrea del Sarto, in uno il Suo rit., e nell’altro il ritr. della Sua Moglie” (Two small pictures on panel, 7 soldi high by 1/4 [braccio] wide painted in roundels by Andrea del Sarto, in one His portrait, and in the other portrait of His Wife); the measurements (approx. 8 x 6 inches) correspond closely; that the portraits were, by the seventeenth century, thought to be del Sarto and his wife does not necessarily invalidate the argument for their inclusion in the Gambassi altarpiece]. New York art market, 1963; Mrs. Murray S. Danforth, Providence, Rhode Island, 1963–64 [according to Freedberg 1966, p. 35, n. 1]; given to Art Institute, 1964.

Domenico da Gambassi

Andrea del Sarto

1525–28

Accession Number

154037

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

22.5 × 15.9 cm (8 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.)

Classification

oil on panel

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth