Michele Tosini, called Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio

This portrait of a young boy comes close to the hand of Michele Tosini, a Florentine artist who trained as a young artist with Lorenzo di Credi and Antonio del Ceraiolo. Soon after Tosini entered the workshop of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio in 1525, the two began to regularly collaborate. That Tosini adopted the nickname “Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio” is a reflection of the closeness between the two artists. As his career progressed, Tosini came under the influence of two other Florentine artists, Francesco Salviati and Agnolo Bronzino. The visual impact of these two artists is visible in the present panel. In fact, a fragment of an old label on the reverse of this panel suggests it once held an attribution to Bronzino.