Michele Tosini, called Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio

Anonymous sale, Paris, Ader Nordmann, 16 December 2016, lot 5 (as "Sybille");

With Haboldt & Co, Amsterdam, 2017;

From whom acquired by the late collector.

This elegant, bust-length depiction of a female figure is probably an allegory of beauty. She is centered in the composition, a neutral background behind her, but looks over her right shoulder, upon which her subtle pink drapery is fastened with a brooch. The woman wears her hair tied up in a stylish, bejeweled headpiece with an oval stone set in gold at center; her long dangling earrings serve to emphasize her long, thin neck. Her cheeks are flush and lips parted ever so slightly.

Although Tosini trained in the workshop of Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, by the mid-sixteenth century he had become an integral member of Giorgio Vasari’s artistic milieu centered around the Medici court. While less well-known today than his contemporaries, Tosini ran one of Florence’s most prolific workshops; received important commissions from the city’s cultural elite; and contributed to the Accademia del Disegno’s founding.

Here the mannerist influence of his contemporaries is evident in the elongated neck and idealized features of his subject. Tosini produced a multitude of idealized half-length Ledas, Magdalenes, Lucretias, and other women throughout his career, of which the present lot is a striking example reflecting the ideals of beauty in the Renaissance.