Adam and Eve; and The family of Adam and Eve

'Pittore senza regola': this was the subtitle of the monographic exhibition dedicated to Cecco Bravo at the Casa Buonarroti in Florence in 1999. Very little was known about the painter until the last few decades, partly due to a lack of appreciation by early biographers of Florentine painters; Baldinucci, for example, did not include him in his Notizie. However, the rediscovery of documents detailing his life and obscure character has allowed a more vivid picture to be created of a very modern artist, capable of absorbing the most diverse influences, from antiquity to Renaissance sculpture to Titian. He trained with Giovanni Bilivert, and was close to the studio of Sigismondo Coccapani and Matteo Rosselli, and would become involved in important Florentine commissions of the time, including the frescoes in Casa Buonarroti and Palazzo Pitti, together with other palaces and churches.
As noted by Antonella Nesi (op. cit., p. 69) this pair belongs to the artist's mature period, when he had fully developed his own individual style. The strong influence of Furini can be seen in the dissolving brushstrokes, while a clear knowledge of classical and Renaissance sculpture is evidenced in the poses of the figures. It also demonstrates a strong response to the pura pittura of late Titian, that would culminate with the Apollo and Daphne in the Pinacoteca Comunale in Ravenna. Both classical and anti-classical at once, he experimented with the brush, especially in easel paintings such as these, which sometimes lose their sense of proportion and break down the sense of space.