Adoration Of The Shepherds, Attributed To Giovanni Balducci Florence Second Half XVIth Century

Adoration of the Shepherds. The work is characterized by a still living memory of the painting of Vasari and, in general, of the late Florentine Mannerists, to whom is very close the artistic production of Giovanni Balducci known as il Cosci (Florence, 1560 - Naples, circa 1631). A pupil of Giovanni Battista Naldini, in close dependence on them, he was one of the painters of the Studiolo of Francesco I at Palazzo Vecchio and was subsequently active on many important construction sites in Florence and its surroundings. It is one of the collaborators of Vasari and Federico Zuccari (1575-1579) who worked on the decoration (fresco of the Last Judgment) of the dome of the cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, commissioned for the marriage of Ferdinand I of Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He also helped Alessandro Allori in the decoration of the Vasari Gallery of the Uffizi Gallery. The decorative cycle of the Church of San Iacopo della Congrega Maggiore dates from 1590, considered his best work, where we find the closest analogies with the work presented. That same year 1590 he went to Rome for prestigious orders, he was in fact taken under the protection of the Medici, in particular that of Cardinal Alexander de Medici, for whom he worked for a while, later becoming sovereign pontiff. under the name of Leo XI. He finally executed a number of works in Naples, where he later died, including the frescoes of the Convent of Our Lady of Carmel (Santa Maria del Carmine) Very healthy wood panel, with its original reinforcements .