Cesare Dandini Florence 1596 - 1657

Although panel is an unusual support for Dandini's paintings, the porcelain-like quality of the boy's skin, his direct gaze and red lips are all characteristic of Dandini's figures. The painting may be compared to other works from the late 1630s and early 1640s; see, for example, his Allegory of Magnificence, also probably on panel, in a private collection, Rome (S. Bellesi, Cesare Dandini, Turin 1996, p. 116, cat. no. 61, reproduced); or his oval canvas of Saint George in the Stein collection, Paris (Bellesi, op. cit., pp. 137-8, cat. no. 81, reproduced).

We are grateful to Dott. Sandro Bellesi for endorsing the attribution to Cesare Dandini on the basis of a colour transparency.