* Pietro Dandini Florence 1646 - 1712

Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, June 20-21 1987, lot 318 as Esther and Asseurus, there purchased by the present collector

The present painting would appear to represent either Esther and Ahasuerus or Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and relates to drawings by Dandini of these subjects. One in a private collection (see fig. 1).  One in a private collection (see fig. 1) is inscribed with the artist's intials and was part of a collection of drawings of the Dandini family (Cesare, Vincenzo, Pietro) kept together by their descendants, the Dandini-Targioni Tozzetti family.  Another drawing of one of these subjects (inscribed in an old hand as the story of Esther) is in the British Museum (inv. 1979-6-23-28).