Lot 34: FELICE FICHERELLI, called IL RIPOSO (San Gimignano 1605-1660 Florence)

Portrait of a boy, bust-length, in a lace collar with a red bow oil on canvas 18 7/8 x 15.1.2 in. (47.8 x 39.4 cm.) NOTES We are grateful to Dr. Sandro Bellesi for confirming the attribution of the present work to Felice Ficherelli and for his assistance in cataloguing it here (private communication dated 17 April 2002). Born in San Gimignano in 1605, Ficherelli moved at an early age to Florence, where he became one of the leading painters of the time and was represented in the most distinguished private collections there. Trained under Jacopo da Empoli, he was drawn in the 1630s to the delicate sfumato effects of Francesco Furini, seen here in the soft modeling of the sitter's features and the ambiguous tenderness of his expression. He was also interested in contemporary developments in Emilian art, particularly the paintings of Guido Cagnacci, with which his own works have often been confused. The present portrait is typical of Ficherelli's works from the late 1630s/early 1640s. The facial type of the sitter and the soft brown sfumato brushwork can also be seen in the Judith and Holofernes (private collection, Florence), and Lot and his daughters (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), both of which can be dated to this period.