Lot 1442 Dα

Cristofano Allori was born in Florence to the noted painter Alessandro Allori. His style is deeply influenced by Bronzino´s refined art and moved from Mannerism, though Neoveneto and Neocorreggesque currents, approaching the Baroque. The relatively few works attributable to this painter are characterized by a distinct realism and elegance of form.
The present work, which depicts John the Baptist in the Wilderness before a landscape, closely relates to the other known version of the same subject now in the Galleria Palatina in Florence - the main difference being the landscape, which here becomes more open and lighter in its palette.
The work shows Allori's characteristic use of rich colours, his sophisticated rendering of texture and forms, the elements that made Allori's work so emblematic of Florentine Baroque painting.
The present canvas is considered to be one of Cristofano's later works, possibly painted in cooperation with Zanobi Rosi. According to Baldinucci, the latter was a pupil of Cristofano and frequently worked with him, even finishing his paintings after the master's death.