Lot 198: PIER FRANCESCO DI JACOPO FOSCHI

PIER FRANCESCO DI JACOPO FOSCHI FLORENCE 1502 - 1567 JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES signed on the reverse of the panel: dj. Jacopo. Foss oil on panel 103.5 by 80.8 cm.; 40 3/4 by 31 3/4 in.

Acquired by the grandfather of a private collector in the early 19th century;
Thence by descent until sold, London, Sotheby's, 11 July 2002, lot 176, where acquired by the present owner for £72,000.

The painting traditionally bore an attribution to Francesco Salviati but the inscription on the reverse indicates that Pier Francesco di Jacopo Foschi, a pupil in Andrea del Sarto's workshop in Florence until the latter's death in 1530, is a more plausible author. The mannerist figures, with their theatrical gestures and characterised physiognomies, have much in common with other works by Foschi: compare, for example, his signed painting of The Immaculate Conception with Saints in the Torrigiani Chapel in the Church of Santo Spirito, Florence, datable to the mid-1540s, and also his painting of The Resurrection in the same church, datable to a few years earlier.

A contemporary copy after this composition was sold, London, Sotheby's, 12 July 1978, lot 153, as by Carlo Portelli da Loro (97.8 by 76.8 cm.).