Attributed to Alessandro Allori, After Michelangelo Buonarroti

Cardinal Aldobrandini, Florence;

Thence by descent in the Aldobrandini family, Florence;

Where acquired by John Udny (1727-1800), British Consul at Venice and Leghorn;

Thence by inheritance to his brother, Robert Fullarton Udny (1725-1802), London;

His estate sale, London, Christie's, 18 May 1804, lot 80 (as M. Venusti);

Where acquired by William Harris, the Engraver, for £63;

Richard Troward, London;

Offered at his anonymous sale, London, Peter Coxe, 11 June 1808, lot 11 (as Venusti), where unsold;

Offered anonymously (by Troward), London, Christie's, 26 May 1810, lot 52 (as M. Angelo), where unsold;

Charles Small Pybus, London;

His estate sale, London, Christie's, 9 March 1811, lot 41 (as M. Angelo);

Francis Isaac Du Roveray (1793-1841), London;

His anonymous sale, London, Christie's, London, 30 April 1825, lot 92 (as M. Venusti), for £46.5;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 27 October 1989, lot 219 (as After Michelangelo), where unsold;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 26 October 1990, lot 10 (as After Michelangelo);

Where acquired.

Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia, Venere e Amore: Michelangelo e la nuova bellezza ideale; Venus and Love: Michelangelo and the New Ideal of Beauty, 26 June - 3 November 2002, no. 42 (lent from a private collection, New York).

Catalogue of the Entire Collection of Pictures Belonging to Robert Udny, Esq., Deceased, London 1802, pp. 23-24, cat. no. 152 (as Venusti);

J. Katz Nelson, in Venere e Amore: Michelangelo e la nuova bellezza ideale; Venus and Love: Michelangelo and the New Ideal of Beauty, exhibition catalogue, F. Falletti and J.K. Nelson (eds.), Florence 2002, pp. 224-225, cat. no. 42, reproduced (as "Allori?");

M. Ruvolt, The Italian Renaissance Imagery of Inspiration: Metaphors of Sex, Sleep and Dreams, Cambridge 2004, p. 167, reproduced fig. 65;

S. Buck, in Michelangelo's Dream, exhibition catalogue, S. Buck (ed.), London 2010, pp. 57-reproduced fig. 45 (as Attributed to Allori, After Michelangelo).