(Peretola 1523–1591 Florence)
Portrait of a young man, probably Francesco del Cittadino,
inscribed on the reverse: Francesco del / Cittadino /…,
oil on panel, 37 x 28.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Frederic Spitzer, New York;
with F. Kleinberger, New York, 1935 (as Giovanni Battista Moroni);
sale, Christie’s, New York, 6 October 1994, lot 151 (as Florentine School, mid-16th Century);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Louis Waldman for suggesting the attribution for the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

An inscription on the back of the present panel, probably identifies the young man represented as Francesco del Cittadino, who was active in Florence from 1554 to 1570 as a member of the dye works of the Violi family in the role of ‘tintore di guado’ [‘dyer’] (see fig. 1). Archival sources documenting his activities are conserved in the Archivio dell’Istituto degli Innocenti, Florence (Fondo Eredità Diverse, Estranei, sub voce). It is possible that this portrait was made during the third quarter of the sixteenth century, at the beginning of Francesco del Cittadino’s time in Florence.

Jacopo Coppi trained in the studio of Michele Tosini, called Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio with whom he collaborated in the creation of works made to commemorate Michelangelo’s funeral in 1564. His self-portrait is in the collection of the Gallerie degli Uffizi (inv. no. 1752). Coppi was also an assistant to Giorgio Vasari and participated in the decoration of the studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio: For this important project Coppi supplied a panel depicting the Invention of gun powder and an oval with Alexander the Great receiving homage from the family of Darius. In 1571 the artist entered the Accademia del Disegno and his status within Vasari’s circle led to him being commissioned to execute a number of altarpieces for some of the most significant Florentine churches: A San Vincenzo Ferrer preaching for Santa Maria Novella and an Ecce Homo for Santa Croce. In 1577 he was in Rome where he frescoed the tribune of San Pietro in Vincoli with stories of the life of Saint Peter.

Coppi was influenced by the style of Alessandro Allori, Jacopino del Conte and Jan Van der Straet called Giovanni Stradano.