Cristofano Allori | |
|---|---|
 self-portrait | |
| Born | 17 October 1577  Florence |
| Died | 1 April 1621 (aged 43) Florence |
| Other names | Bronzino |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Style | portrait, religious painting |
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Cristofano Allori (17 October 1577 – 1 April 1621) was an Italian painter of the late FlorentineMannerist school, painting mostly portraits and religious subjects.
Allori was born atFlorence and received his first lessons in painting from his father,Alessandro Allori, but becoming dissatisfied with the hard anatomical drawing and cold coloring of the latter, he entered the studio ofGregorio Pagani, who was one of the leaders of the late Florentine school, which sought to unite the rich coloring of theVenetians with the Florentine attention to drawing.[2][3] Allori also appears to have worked underCigoli.[citation needed]
When still young he became a court portraitist for the Medicis, though many of his commissions were replicas of portraits by his predecessorBronzino, or had participation by others.[citation needed]
His pictures are distinguished by their close adherence to nature and the delicacy and technical perfection of their execution. His technical skill is shown by the fact that several copies he made ofCorreggio's works were thought to be duplicates by Correggio himself. His extreme fastidiousness limited the number of his works. Several examples are to be seen at Florence and elsewhere.[2]
His most famous work, in his own day and now, isJudith with the Head of Holofernes. It exists in at least two versions by Allori, of which theprime version is perhaps that in the BritishRoyal Collection, dated 1613, with variouspentimenti. A version of 1620 in thePalazzo Pitti in Florence is the best known and there are several copies by studio and other hands. There is one copy painted in 1613 in the Vatican Pinacoteca and one in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Strangely, the caption for this copy in Berlin says it may have been painted in 1610 or 1615. Then this copy was painted before the so-called prime version painted in 1613 in the British Royal Collection. (https://www.blindbild.com/berlin-gemaeldegalerie-august-2019/gemaeldegalerie_2019_allori-caravaggio/) According to the near-contemporary biography byFilippo Baldinucci, the model for theJudith was his former mistress, the beautiful "La Mazzafirra" (who is also represented in hisMagdalene), the head ofHolofernes is a self-portrait, and the maid is the mother of "La Mazzafirra."[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Allori, Alessandro s.v. Cristofano Allori".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 699.