Lot 196: - Cesare Dandini , Florence 1596 - 1657 Portrait of a Boy Leaning on a Red Velvet Cushion oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 55.5 by 43.7 cm.; 21 3/4 by 17 1/4 in.

Probably Sir Robert Dick-Cunyngham, Bt., Prestonfield House, Edinburgh.

Dandini painted the prime version of this composition for his patron Don Lorenzo de' Medici, probably for his Villa della Petraia, where the painting was hanging as early as 1649 (now Depositi delle Gallerie, Florence, inv. 1890, n. 6457; see S. Bellesi, Cesare Dandini, Florence 1996, pp. 70-71, cat. no. 19). Lush and languid in tone, the painting must have been successful, as Dandini made other versions, including some in oval format (one of which is in the Bargagli Petrucci collection, Florence; see S. Bellesi, op. cit., pp. 74-76, cat. no. 23).

We are grateful to Dr. Sandro Bellesi who, based on photographs, has endorsed the attribution to Dandini and dates the work to the early 1630s.


A note on the Provenance:
An old label on the reverse of the relining canvas reads: Portrait of one of the Medicini [sic] Family bought at Sir Robert Dick's sale 1851. Carlo Dolce. The collector in this case was almost certainly Sir Robert Dick-Cunyngham, 7th Baronet of Prestonfield (1773-1849), Edinburgh, who formed a noted collection of Italian pictures.