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Lot Essay
Vasari relates that Puligo worked in Ridolfo Ghirlandajo's workshop where he was 'the best of his students in drawings and the finest and most graceful in coloring' (G. Vasari, Le Vite (1568) in Le Opere du Giorgio Vasari ed. G. Milanesi, IV, pp. 461-73). Dating his work is problematical both because of Puligo's style which, according to Vasari, did not vary in his short career, and because few of his documented works can be associated with paintings known today.
The present work can, however, be compared with The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Lawrence in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Inv. no. 9109; the Holy Family in Nantes; and the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist in the Galleria Palatina, Florence. These works, from the artist's early maturity, can be tentatively dated to circa 1518-20.
Dr. Genetta Gardner McLean, Director of Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME, has stated that, on the basis of a photograph, she believes the present painting appears to be an autograph work by Puligo. She is currently preparing a catalogue raisonné on the artist for publication. Mr. Everett Fahy, who has examined the painting in the original, has confirmed the attribution to Puligo.
The present work can, however, be compared with The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Lawrence in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Inv. no. 9109; the Holy Family in Nantes; and the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist in the Galleria Palatina, Florence. These works, from the artist's early maturity, can be tentatively dated to circa 1518-20.
Dr. Genetta Gardner McLean, Director of Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME, has stated that, on the basis of a photograph, she believes the present painting appears to be an autograph work by Puligo. She is currently preparing a catalogue raisonné on the artist for publication. Mr. Everett Fahy, who has examined the painting in the original, has confirmed the attribution to Puligo.