Leonardo de' Ginori
Giuliano Bugiardini·c. 1528
Historical Context
Giuliano Bugiardini's portrait of Leonardo de' Ginori from around 1528 shows this Florentine painter in his mature period, working in a manner derived from his training under Ghirlandaio and his contact with Raphael and Michelangelo. Bugiardini is known primarily as Michelangelo's friend and assistant, but he maintained an independent career producing portraits and altarpieces in a conservative manner that pleased Florentine patrician clients seeking solid competence rather than challenging innovation. Ginori was a member of one of Florence's most distinguished families, and this portrait documents his physical presence with the directness expected of Florentine bourgeois portraiture. Bugiardini's work demonstrates the important role of competent conservative painters in meeting the steady demand for portraiture and devotional painting that the occasional brilliant innovator could not fulfill alone.
Technical Analysis
Bugiardini's oil on panel demonstrates his characteristic smooth technique and warm palette derived from the Florentine tradition of Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolommeo. The dignified pose and careful rendering of the sitter's features reflect conventional High Renaissance portrait formulas.
Provenance
(Leo Nardus [1868-1955], Suresnes, France, and New York); sold 1905 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as by Raphael;[1] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Provenance according to notes by Edith Standen, the Widener curator, in NGA curatorial files. Three wax seals on the reverse of the painting have been identified by Ross Watson (see Fern Rusk Shapley, _Catalogue of the Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:95-96). The two that include crosses, with only partly legible inscriptions, depict the arms of the king of Italy; they are presumably government seals. The third seal is that of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and bears the arms of the Rospigliosi on the left and the Oldescalchi on the right.
