Saint John the Baptist

Cesare Dandini, a pupil of Cristofano Allori and Domenico Cresti, developed a refined and elegant oeuvre in the Tuscan tradition. The present lot ultimately derives from the Ritratto di giovinetto con cuscino rosso (Gallerie Fiorentine, Florence), a composition that Dandini and his pupils revisited and reworked on several occasions (see S. Bellesi, Cesare Dandini, Turin, 1996, pp. 70-71, no. 19 and pp. 74-76, no. 23 and S. Bellesi, Cesare Dandini. Addenda al catalogo dei dipinti, Florence, 2007, pp. 12-13). The identity of the sitter is not certain, but it has been suggested that it is either a close friend of Dandini or possibly the musician Bartolomeo Landini (Bellesi 1996, p. 71).

We are grateful to Sandro Bellesi for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs. Dr Bellesi does not exclude the possibility of a later hand involved in parts of the drapery and the cross.