Lot 38: FRANCESCO DI CRISTOFANO CALLED FRANCIABIGIO FLORENCE 1482 - 1525

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

CRUCIFIXION

measurements note
11 by 16 in.; 28 by 40.5 cm.

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

With Emmanuel Moatti, Paris, by whom sold in March, 1998 to
the present collector.

NOTE

According to Vasari, Franciabigio was a pupil of Albertinelli.
With his master and later close friend, Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio participated in the decoration of different Florentine private and religious edifices: frescoes from the Villa Capponi (1510), Cloister of the Annunziata Church (1513), Convent de la Calza (1514), Cloister of Scalzo (1516). One of his last works "The Letter to Udry", Dresden Gemaldegalerie, (painted in 1523 for the ante-room Benintendi) demonstrates his interest in light, color and perspective.

According to Everett Fahy, this panel was painted by Franciabigio around 1506-1507, during the end of his apprenticeship in the studio of Albertinelli. Its style and composition are inspired from a fresco by Albertinelli with certainly a participation of Franciabigio (Galluzzo, Certosa di Val d'Ema) signed and dated 1506.

The face of Saint John is similar to a drawing showing a portrait of a young man, now at the Biblioteca Reale, Turin. This specific face is typical of Franciabigio and can be found throughout his career.