The Madonna of the Rosary, with Saint Dominic and other Saints, surrounded by scenes from the Life of the Virgin and of Christ within a feigned frame with putti

Trained by Giovan Battista Naldini, Balducci collaborated with Federico Zuccaro on the frescoes of the Last Judgement in the dome of the Cathedral of Florence between 1575 and 1579. In 1577 and 1580 he worked in Rome with Naldini on the decoration of the Altoviti Chapel in the church of SS. Trinitá dei Monti. On his return to Florence, he assisted in the decoration of the ceiling of the Uffizi Gallery and later in the preparations of the wedding of Ferdinand I de'Medici in 1589. In 1594 he travelled to Rome where he stayed before settling in Naples in 1596. The present picture is comparable to Balducci's early work in Florence, for example the Christ in Glory in a private collection (see A.M. Petrioli Toffani, Il primato del disegno, Florence, 1980, p. 67, no. 60, illustrated).