(active in Florence, early 17th Century) and(Florence 1590–1660)
Portrait of a Lady with her son,
oil on canvas, 207 x 116 cm, framed

We are grateful to Francesca Baldassari for confirming the attribution (a certificate is available). 

Works by Valore and Domenico Casini are rare, and they have only been recently re- discovered as important portraitists during the first half of the 17th century. They received prestigious commissions from the court of the Medici. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to identify the present sitters, but their impressive poses and richly decorated clothes point to their noble status.

Valore and Domenico studied under Domenico Passignano, specializing in portraiture. They appear to have developed a cooperative working practise (described by Filippo Baldinucci) in which Valore painted faces, hands, and outlines of the bodies, whilst Domenico specialized in the depiction of draperies, embroideries, and costumes. One of their pupils was Filippo Furini, Francesco Furini’s father.

A well-known and documented commission was the portrait of Lorenzo, bishop of Fiesole, and his mother Genovessa Popoleschi in Santa Maria in Campo, Florence. Even though Sustermans undoubtedly had begun to dominate court portraiture by this time, the Guardaroba Medicea notes that in April 1628 five historic portraits of famous Medici ancestors, painted by Valore and Domenico Casini, entered the Palazzo Pitti. The posthumous portrait of Pope Leo X was based on Raphael’s famous painting (oil on canvas, 230 x 168 cm), today in the Museo Storico della Caccia e del Territorio. Baldinucci commented on this series that Valore ‘was able to depict deceased persons in a way they still appeared to be alive’.
The present painting is very comparable with Casinis’ series of four portraits of the Medici children, and in particular with their likeness of Mattias, son of Cosimo II de’ Medici (oil on canvas, 170 x 113 cm, Palazzo Pitti, inv. no. 2459).