(Antwerp 1597–1681 Florence)
Portrait of Cosimo dell’Antella wearing the robe of the Tuscan Order of Saint Stephen
oil on canvas, 83.5 x 63 cm, framed

We are grateful to Umberto M. Ascani of the Order of Saint Stephen for having identified the sitter, and to Paolo Bertelli and Francesco Petrucci for endorsing the attribution. We are also grateful to Lisa Goldenberg-Stoppato, who has also confirmed the identity of the sitter. She has suggested that whilst the head of the present painting was executed by Sustermans himself, the costume was possibly executed by a skilled assistant, possibly Carlo Bossi, who is cited in documents from the 1630s and 1640s as Suttermans’ ‘giovane di bottega’. (Sustermans actually is referred to in contemporary documents as “Suttermans” with a double “t” and only became known as Sustermans through an error by Cornelis de Bie who changed the name in Het Gulden Cabinet.)

Cosimo dell’Antella, Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, is depicted in all the splendor of the robes of a commander of the Order of Saint Stephen, the most senior and noble order of the Grand Duchy, founded by Cosimo I. He was made a knight in 1607, and was given several offices in this military order, which had strong naval connections ever since it had supplied, manned and lead ships at the battle of Lepanto. Antella and his two brothers were some of the most remarkable characters in the Florentine nobility of the seventeenth century. Cosimo, Niccolò and Francesco received an extensive humanistic education and later read law at the universities of Padua and Pisa.

Cosimo II appointed him as juridical aid and counselor for the princesses Margherita and Anna de Medici. In 1629 he was elected a Senator of Florence (see G. M. Mecatti, Storia genealogica della nobiltà, e cittadinanza di Firenze divisa in quattro parti tomo primo contiene le famiglie nobili fiorentine ... il Senatorista, e il Priorista fiorentino opera raccolta, e ordinata dall’abate Giuseppe Maria Mecatti..: Parte seconda che contiene il senatorista o sia la serie de’ senatori fiorentini, vol. II , Naples 1753, p. 136).

Antella was part of the most intimate circle of the Medici Court during the reigns of Cosimo II and of Ferdinand II. His Brother Niccolò, having been appointed auditor and member of the four head-regency council during the immaturity of Duke Ferdinand II, was also a senator. The Antellas were also noted patrons of the arts, as is demonstrated by the impressive Palazzo dell’Antella in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, whose façade remains almost unaltered to this day. Niccolò and Cosimo both held high offices at the administration of the Accademia del Disegno, the most influential artistic organization in the city. The youngest brother, Francesco, became a professed knight of the Order of Malta. He was only recently identified in letters found in the Casa Buanarotti in Florence as Fra’ Francesco, who commissioned Caravaggio’s famous Sleeping Cupid and sent it to Florence, while the artist was a page of the order on the island of Malta (see D. M. Stone, In praise of Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid: New documents for Francesco dell’Antella in Malta and Florence, in: Melita Historica, 12, 1997, p. 165).

Additional image
Raffaello Gualterotti, ‘Giuoco del Calcio’ in Piazza Santa Croce, Florence with Palazzo Antella, Sarasota, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Inv. SN36

We are grateful to Umberto M. Ascani of the Order of Saint Stephen for having identified the sitter, and to Paolo Bertelli and Francesco Petrucci for endorsing the attribution. We are also grateful to Lisa Goldenberg-Stoppato, who has also confirmed the identity of the sitter. She has suggested that whilst the head of the present painting was executed by Sustermans himself, the costume was possibly executed by a skilled assistant, possibly Carlo Bossi, who is cited in documents from the 1630’s and 1640’s as Suttermans’ ‘giovane di bottega’. (Sustermans actually is referred to in contemporary documents as “Suttermans” with a double “t” and became only known as Sustermans through an error by Cornelis de Bie who changed the name in Het Gulden Cabinet.)

Cosimo dell’Antella, Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, is depicted in all the splendor of the robes of a commander of the Order of Saint Stephen, the most senior and noble order of the Grand Duchy, founded by Cosimo I. He was made a knight in 1607, and was given several offices in this military order, which had strong naval connections ever since it had supplied, manned and lead ships at the battle of Lepanto. Antella and his two brothers were some of the most remarkable characters in the Florentine nobility of the seventeenth century. Cosimo, Niccolò and Francesco received an extensive humanistic education and later read law at the universities of Padua and Pisa.

Cosimo II appointed him as juridical aid and counselor for the princesses Margherita and Anna de Medici. In 1629 he was elected a Senator of Florence (see G. M. Mecatti, Storia genealogica della nobiltà, e cittadinanza di Firenze divisa in quattro parti tomo primo contiene le famiglie nobili fiorentine ... il Senatorista, e il Priorista fiorentino opera raccolta, e ordinata dall’abate Giuseppe Maria Mecatti..: Parte seconda che contiene il senatorista o sia la serie de’ senatori fiorentini, vol. II , Naples 1753, p. 136).

Antella was part of the most intimate circle of the Medici Court during the reigns of Cosimo II and of Ferdinand II. His Brother Niccolò, having been appointed auditor and member of the four head-regency council during the immaturity of Duke Ferdinand II, was also a senator. The Antellas were also noted patrons of the arts, as is demonstrated by the impressive Palazzo dell’Antella in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, whose façade remains almost unaltered to this day. Niccolò, and Cosimo both held high offices at the administration of the Accademia del Disegno, the most influential artistic organization in the city. The youngest brother, Francesco, became a professed knight of the Order of Malta. He was only recently identified in letters found in the Casa Buanarotti in Florence as Fra’ Francesco, who commissioned Caravaggio’s famous Sleeping Cupid and sent it to Florence, while the artist was a page of the order on the island of Malta (see D. M. Stone, In praise of Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid: New documents for Francesco dell’Antella in Malta and Florence, in: Melita Historica, 12, 1997, p. 165).

Additional image
Raffaello Gualterotti, ‘Giuoco del Calcio’ in Piazza Santa Croce, Florence with Palazzo Antella, Sarasota, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Inv. SN36