Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608)

Details
Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608)

An allegorical Figure of Abundance

inscribed 'tutta di pavonazo' and numbered '27'; black chalk, pen and brown ink, watercolour
310 x 204mm.
Provenance
Sir Max Bonn
Henry Oppenheimer; Christie's, 14 July 1936, lot 409 (42 gns. to Sir Max Bonn)

Lot Essay

A costume design by Buontalenti for one of the intermezzi of the comedy La Pellegrina. The work was a collaboration between some of the leading talents at the Medici court: Buontalenti was the designer, the philosophical concept was conceived by the artistocratic philosopher Giovanni de' Bardi, the libretto was written by Ottavio Ranuccini and the music by Cristofano Malvezzi and Luca Marenzio. The play was written to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Cristina of Lorrain in 1589.

Two volumes of drawings by Buontalenti related to this work are in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence and another was with Katrin Bellinger, see Drawings in Florence 1500-1650,1991, no.10

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