Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
Domenico da Gambassi (or Becuccio Bicchieraio)
c.1525–1528
Oil on panel, 22.5 × 15.9 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Andrea del Sarto created this portrait to be incorporated, together with the Portrait of Becuccio Bicchieraio’s wife, in the predella of the Pala di Gambassi, commissioned by his friend the glassmaker.
This casually posed and loosely rendered portrait originally made up part of the lower section, or predella, of an altarpiece for a church in Gambassi, near Florence. The images of the patron, Domenico, and his wife, Lucrezia, flanked additional, now-lost paintings. The painted strapwork around the portraits, discovered during recent conservation treatment, once formed part of a decorative pattern that would have extended throughout the predella; it indicates how all the individual paintings were interconnected. Andrea del Sarto added highlights at the bottom of each roundel, mimicking the natural light of the church, to create the illusion of the paintings being set within a three-dimensional frame. (AIC)
Pair:
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
Lucrezia di Lippo di Iacopo Guidi
c.1525–1528
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Compare:
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
Domenico di Jacopo di Matteo
c.1528–1530
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh