(Florence c. 1540–1606/8?)
Portrait of Virgina de’ Medici (1568–1615),
oil on panel, 68 x 51 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly Sotheby’s, London, 19 November 1975, as lot 50 (as Studio of Bronzino);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Elizabeth Pilliod for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

In their youth, Butteri and his brother were assistants of Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572). Giovanni Maria worked side by side with Bronzino’s primary pupil, Alessandro Allori (1535–1607). Together they worked on a number of projects including the painting of the Cavalcanti Chapel in Santo Spirito in 1560 and the funeral of Michelangelo in 1564; as well as the decorations for the wedding of Francesco de’ Medici with Joanna of Austria in 1565.

In Allori’s first independent major commission, the Montauto Chapel of the left aisle in the church of the Santissima Annunziata of 1560-64, the artist included a portrait of his close associate Butteri in an assembly of artists and court favorites who sit at the feet of the young Christ in the Temple (see A. Bernacchioni, Alessandro Pieroni dall’Impruneta e i pittori della Loggia degli Uffizi, Florence, 2012, p.100 (with additional bibliography); and E. Pilliod, Pontormo, Bronzino, Allori: A Genealogy of Florentine Art, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 164-5; 173-4, 268, note 119). From the mid-1570s he developed an independent career, notably contributing two paintings to the Studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio, and producing many altarpieces and portraits. However, Butteri remained a faithful associate of Allori, and worked with him on most of his large commissions throughout the 1580s.

Butteri often painted from designs and cartoons made by Allori. Several documented examples are the frescoes for the Palazzo Salviati (1574–1581), the lunette of the salone in Poggio a Caiano (1579–1582), the decorations of the first corridor of the Uffizi (1581), and the chapel of Saint Giovanni Gualberto in the Badia at Passignano. Allori’s own Ricordi contain instances of their collaboration (see I. B. Supino, I Ricordi di Alessandro Allori, Florence, 1908, p. 10, 14, 19, 23, 25-7, 30).

This relationship is also represented in the present painting, which closely resembles Allori’s style in format, composition, and the handling of details. Yet the brightly illuminated and slightly flatter planes in the face of the woman are typical of Butteri’s approach to female sitters. A case in point is the face of the woman at the lower left in Butteri’s Sacra conversazione with Members of the Medici family as Saints (Florence, Museo del Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto, 1575) (see A. Pieroni dall’Impruneta, exhibition catalogue, Florence, 2012, p. 174-77 and detail illustration on p. 177, no. 22). The woman in this painting, whose identity is under dispute, has been compared to a group of at least four portraits depicting the same woman (see K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, I, Florence, 1981, p. 709-16, no. 36 [Eleonora] with 36,1, Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, inv. no. 37.1112) as the basis for comparison. Subsequently, Langedijk found several other close matches (see first letter, K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, III, Florence, 1987, no. 36, 1 a-c; Florence, Poggio a Caiano, no. 22; Private Collection Nice, France; Private Collection, Paris, France). Langedijk observed a strong similarity between the women in this group of paintings and the Sacra conversazione with Members of the Medici family as Saints (see first letter, K. Landedijk, I, Florence, 1981, p. 716). As it did not fit with her goal of identifying the various individuals, she rejected the connection. To these one can add a portrait of the same woman in a longer format, which is identical to the sitter in the present painting, except for details of the fabric of her dress, the inclusion of her hand, and the presence of a magnificent necklace (the picture recorded as on the market in 1995 in the database of the Fondazione Zeri, no. 35477, was subsequently sold at Sotheby’s, London, Old Master Paintings, July 5, 2007, lot 182. Also on panel, it measures 66.5 X 51.5 cm.

The sitter in these images can be identified as the one from Florence, and the picture must date to the 1580s based on the costume and hairstyle (see R. Orsi Landini and B. Miccoli, Moda a Firenze 1540-1580, Florence, 2005, p.139, here the painting formerly from Poggio a Caiano (now transferred to the Galleria Palatina) is illustrated as fig. 70, attributed to the workshop of Allori, the painting is identified as Virginia de’ Medici and dated 1585-90 based on a meticulous analysis of costume, hairstyle and jewelry).

Karla Langedijk believed the sitter to be Eleonora or Dianora (1553–1576), the niece of Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Unfortunately this identification is in error as Dianora died too early for the style of costume and hairstyle worn by the sitter. The compiler of the entry for the sale of the longer format painting believed the sitter to be Camilla Martelli de’ Medici (1545-1590), the second wife of Cosimo I. The key for that assertion was the heavily jeweled necklace worn by the sitter, which has been identified via archival descriptions with one given by Cosimo I to his spouse Camilla (M. Sframeli, I gioiellli dei Medici dal vero e in ritratto, Florence, 2003, p. 72-5, cat. no. 14). The necklace appears in this portrait of Camilla Martelli, attributed to Jacopo Ligozzi. A close reading of the documents and the images proves that the necklace in the portrait sold at Sotheby’s in 2007 is the same piece. Hence the sitter in that panel (and by extension, the present panel) must be Camilla’s daughter, Virginia. Camilla had been the secret lover of Cosimo, after having born him a daughter, Virginia in 1568, became his legitimate spouse. Never accepted by the rest of the Medici family, at the death of Cosimo I in 1574, she was banished to a nunnery, only permitted to emerge twice. Once was on occasion of the marriage of her daughter Virgina (1568–1615) to Cesare d’Este of Modena in 1586. It is significant for the present argument that Camilla gave her marvelous necklace to her daughter when she wed. Given the nearly identical features of the sitters in the painting sold at Sotheby’s in 2007 and this painting, there is no doubt they are the same sitter; since the dating of the costume and hairstyle are from the 1580s, the sitter cannot be Camilla, but must be Virginia, who, on the eve of her nuptials wears the stunning necklace given to her mother by her father.

Virginia departed Florence in the same year that she was married, 1586. The group of bust- and half-length portraits described here, of which the present panel is one, were executed before Virginia left Florence. The present image, and its near mate sold in 2007, were likely done immediately before Virginia’s wedding, as they emphasize her noble status in the gold and silver decorations in her garment and jewels, including the necklace of her mother.

We are extremely grateful to Elizabeth Pilliod for cataloguing the present lot.

The present painting may also be compared to a portrait by Alessandro Allori of Dianora de Tolede, oil on copper, in the Alana Collection, Delaware.