Matteo Rosselli Florence 1578 - 1650

The present unpublished painting is an important addition to the artist's oeuvre.   Rosselli painted another treatment of the subject in 1647 for the Duomo of San Martino, Pietrasanta (Lucca) (see Arte sacra nella Versilia medicea: il culto e gli arredi, catalogue of the exhibition held at the Palazzo mediceo, Seravezza, August 5- October 15, 1995, Florence 1995, reproduced fig. 10).  That altarpiece is slightly more vertical in format, and less elaborate in its figural composition, particularly in the number of angels and cherubim attendant on the figure of Christ. 

We are grateful to Francesca Baldassari who, based on photographs, has confirmed the present painting to be by Rosselli.