Lot 206: Francesco di Cristofano Giudicis, il Franciabigio (Florence 1484-1525)

Francesco di Cristofano Giudicis, il Franciabigio (Florence 1484-1525)
The Crucifixion
oil on panel
10 7/8 x 15 7/8 in. (27.6 x 40.4 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Monaco, 21 June 1991, lot 102.
with Emmanuel Moatti, Paris, where acquired by
Robert Edsel, Dallas, in 1998.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2007, lot 38 ($96,000).

Franciabigio was a pupil of Albertinelli and Andrea del Sarto. He participated in the decoration of different Florentine private and religious edifices, including frescoes from the Villa Capponi (1510), Cloister of the Annunziata Church (1513), Convent de la Calza (1514), and the Cloister of Scalzo (1516). One of his last works, The Letter to Udry (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden), painted in 1523 for a commission from the Florentine, Giovanni Benintendi, demonstrates his interest in light, color and perspective.

According to Everett Fahy, the present 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 by a fresco commissioned from Albertinelli but certainly executed with the 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 in various works made throughout his career.