(Florence 1627–1697)
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas,
oil on canvas, 108 x 84 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Leonard & Co., Boston, 24 July 1914, lot 57–10 (as Bernardo Strozzi);
Ovila Derouin collection, Boston;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2005, lot 353 (as Venetian School, 17th Century);
sale, Tajan, 21 June 2010, lot 25 (as Alessandro Rosi);
Private collection, Italy

<b< Exhibited:<br />Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1914 – 1928, on loan (as Bernardo Strozzi).

Literature:
F. Moro, Viaggio nel Seicento Toscano, Dipinti e disegni inediti, Mantua, 2006, p. 222, no. 27 (as Alessandro Rosi).

We are grateful to Sandro Bellesi for confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

The reconstruction of the oeuvre of Alessandro Rosi has been made possible due to documents regarding his commission for Palazzo Corsini in Florence between 1650 and 1653 (see E. Acanfora, Alessandro Rosi, Florence 1994). He studied in the workshop of Cesare Dandini and he worked at the Grand-Ducal Court.

The present painting displays the characteristics of the style that Rosi developed during his career which was in some ways indebted to Mannerism. In the present composition Rosi creates a partially distorted view of reality as he depicts the figures with theatricality and expressive power, and they appear to move fluidly, some dressed in bright colours.

The gestures and movements of the figures recall those of Moses and the daughters of Jetro (Cassa di Risparmio, Prato), while Christ resembles that of the Baptism in the Church of San Pietro in Bagno in Ripoli in Florence.