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This casually posed and loosely rendered portrait originally made up part of the lower section, or predella, of an altarpiece for a church in Gambassi, near Florence.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
Accession Number
154037
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
22.5 × 15.9 cm (8 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth