A man seated on a stool, facing right

Previously attributed to Tavarone, this large sheet is Empoli’s final study for the disciple seated at the left of his Supper at Emmaus, commissioned in 1609 by Niccolò di Girolamo degli Albizzi for his chapel at Villa Frescobaldi in Pomino, Tuscany. In keeping with Florentine tradition, the artist had carefully studied anatomy from life and rapidly executed the drawing with broad and assured lines. Around 1582, the monks of the Certosa commissioned Empoli to copy Jacopo da Pontormo’s Supper at Emmaus. It is clear that copying this masterpiece persisted in Empoli’s memory as the seated figure on the left of his painting is close to a mirror image of that on the right of Pontormo’s altarpiece.