Attributed to Valerio Cioli

This vivacious and characterful bust portrays a mature gentleman with an intelligent gaze, his regular features framed by a thick moustache and hair. Based on stylistic aspects, the portrait can be attributed to the prominent Florentine sculptor Valerio Cioli, as first proposed by Claudio Pizzorusso and substantiated by Sandro Bellesi (referenced below).

Hailing from Settignano, Cioli studied under Niccolò Tribolo before moving to Rome, where he collaborated with Raffaello da Montelupo, studied the work of Michelangelo, and became active in the restoration of ancient marbles. At the behest of Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici, Cioli came to Florence in 1561 and soon established a reputation in the Tuscan capital, culminating in his contribution of the allegorical figure of Sculpture to the monument to Michelangelo in Santa Croce. His subsequent work was dominated by commissions from the Medici, including the statue of Morgante on a turtle and various other marbles destined for the Boboli Gardens.

According to Bellesi, the present bust is datable to the end of Cioli’s career. It finds pertinent comparisons in the Bust of Vincenzo Danti in San Domenico, Perugia, and the Portrait of Canon Giovan Francesco Buonamici in Sant’Agostino in Prato, dating from 1589. The latter in particular shares the present bust’s expressiveness and lively gaze, smoothly modelled drapery, and treatment of the beard, but differs in its less descriptive rendering of facial features. In this the present bust arguably relates to the herm bust of Pier Vittori sculpted by Cioli in the 1590s for the façade of Palazzo dei Visacci in Florence, though the herm bears an element of satirical caricature that is not present here. It seems instead that the present bust anticipates the naturalistic faces of early 17th-century Florentine sculpture, such as the youthful portraits of Gherardo Silvani.

The present lot is the subject of expertises by Claudio Pizzorusso and Sandro Bellesi.

This lot has been imported under a temporary artistic importation license. Please refer to the specialist department for further information about export procedures and shipping costs.