
Lucrezia di Lippo di Iacopo Guidi
Andrea del Sarto·1525–28
Historical Context
Andrea del Sarto's portrait of Lucrezia di Lippo di Iacopo Guidi (1525–28) almost certainly depicts his wife Lucrezia del Fede, who served as his model throughout his career. Del Sarto occupied a singular position in Florentine painting, called the 'faultless painter' by Vasari for his technical mastery. These late portraits reflect the period of political anxiety before the 1527 Sack of Rome and the collapse of the Florentine Republic, when del Sarto's quiet domesticity stood apart from the grand ambitions of his peers. His sensitive layering of glazes creates an unmatched softness.
Technical Analysis
Del Sarto's oil on panel demonstrates his celebrated sfumato technique with soft, luminous modeling, warm flesh tones, and the effortless technical mastery that earned him Vasari's epithet of the painter "without errors."
Provenance
Probably incorporated into the Gambassi altarpiece, Church of Santi Lorenzo e Onofrio, Benedictine Convent of the Romite, Gambassi (near Volterra), by 1525/28 to no later than 1637 [see Lloyd 1993]. Probably Medici Collection, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, by 1637 [see Conti 1983–84, pp. 162–63]. Possibly Leopold de’Medici (died 1675), Villa del Poggio Imperiale, Florence, by 1655 [Trkulja 1976, p. 12 suggested that they could be identified with entries in the inventories of 1655 and 1692: Due quadretti in tavola, alti s. 7 lari 1/4 dipintovj in tondo di mano d’Andrea del Sarto, in uno il Suo rit., e nell’altro il ritr. della Sua Moglie” (Two small pictures on panel, 7 soldi high by 1/4 [braccio] wide painted in roundels by Andrea del Sarto, in one His portrait, and in the other portrait of His Wife); the measurements (approx. 8 x 6 inches) correspond closely; that the portraits were, by the seventeenth century, thought to be del Sarto and his wife does not necessarily invalidate the argument for their inclusion in the Gambassi altarpiece]. New York art market, 1963; Mrs. Murray S. Danforth, Providence, Rhode Island, 1963–64 [according to Freedberg 1966, p. 35, n. 1]; given to Art Institute, 1964.
See It In Person
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More from the High Renaissance Period

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The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor
Antonio Rimpatta·c. 1510

Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Saint Gereon, and a Donor
Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder·1520


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