Editing Alessandro Allori

{{short description|Italian painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Alessandro Allori
| image         = Self-portrait by Alessandro Allori.jpg
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = Self-portrait by Allori, {{circa|1555}}
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1535|5|31|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Florence]], Italy
| death_date    = {{death date and age |1607|9|22|1535|5|31|df=y}}
| death_place   = Florence, Italy
| field         = [[Painting]]
| training      =
| movement      = [[Mannerism]]
| works         = 
| patrons       =
| influenced by =
| influenced    =
| awards        =
}}

'''Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori''' (Florence, 31 May 1535{{snd}}22 September 1607) was an Italian [[Painting|painter]] of the late [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] [[Florence|Florentine]] school.

==Biography==
After the death of his father in 1541, Allori was brought up and trained in art by the mannerist painter [[Agnolo Bronzino]], a close friend of the family. Both Alessandro and his son [[Cristofano Allori|Cristofano]] sometimes used the name "Bronzino" in adulthood.<ref name="Pilliod">Pilliod, Elizabeth. “Bronzino’s Household.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 134, no. 1067, 1992, pp. 92–100. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/884993. Accessed 15 June 2024.</ref> Allori supplemented his training with a study trip to Rome, between 1554 and 1560, and with anatomical research which included the dissection of human corpses, provided by the [[Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova]].<ref name="Berti">{{cite book |last1=Berti |first1=Luciano |date=2003 |editor-last1=Falletti |editor-first1=Franca |editor-last2=Scudieri |editor-first2=Magnolia |title=Around the David: The Great Art of Michelangelo's Century |publisher=Giunti Editor S.p.A., Florence-Milan |orig-date=1st pub. 2003 |pages=28-73 |chapter=Chapter 2: Michelangelo and the Florentine Painting of the Sixteenth Century |isbn=88-09-03316-7 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

In the prime of his career, Allori headed one of the "two most important workshops in Florence in the second half of the 16th century" (the other was led by [[Santi di Tito]]).<ref name="Lecchini Giovannoni">{{cite book |last1=Lecchini Giovannoni |first1=Simona |date=2003 |editor-last1=Falletti |editor-first1=Franca |editor-last2=Scudieri |editor-first2=Magnolia |title=Around the David: The Great Art of Michelangelo's Century |publisher=Giunti Editor S.p.A., Florence-Milan |orig-date=1st pub. 2003 |pages=77–81 |chapter=Chapter 3: In the House of the Saints |isbn=88-09-03316-7 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> He served as First Consul of the [[Accademia delle Arti del Disegno|Accademia del Disegno]] in 1573, and was made head of the ''Arazzeria Medicea'', Florence's state-owned tapestry workshop, in 1581.<ref name="Berti"/> Allori also worked, under the guidance of [[Giorgio Vasari]], among the team of artists who decorated the [[Studiolo of Francesco I|Studiolo of Francesco&nbsp;I]]. He contributed four painted panels: a ''Banquet of [[Cleopatra VII of Egypt|Cleopatra]]'', a landscape with figures diving for pearls, and portraits of [[Cosimo I de' Medici]] and [[Eleanor of Toledo]], the parents of Francesco I.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Apartments of the Priori in Palazzo Vecchio |last=Muccini |first=Ugo |publisher=Casa Editrice Le Lettere |year=1992 |isbn=88-7166-109-5 |edition=1st |location=Florence, Italy |pages=66 |last2=Bencini |first2=Raffaello}}</ref> Between 1578 and 1582 he worked in the Medici [[Villa di Poggio a Caiano]], expanding a fresco of [[Tribute to Caesar (del Sarto and Allori)|''Tribute to Caesar'']] which [[Andrea del Sarto]] had painted in the 1520s. Allori modified his style and copied figures to harmonize with the work of del Sarto, who was revered by the artists of Florence.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Andrea del Sarto |last=Natali |first=Antonio |publisher=Abbeville Press Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=0-7892-0531-9 |edition=1st U.S. |location=New York, London, and Paris |pages=133 |translator-last=Jennings |translator-first=Jeffrey}}</ref> In the same way, Allori expanded [[Franciabigio]]'s fresco [[Triumph of Cicero (Franciabigio and Allori)|''Triumph of Cicero'']] in the same hall with figures copied from his frescoes in the [[Chiostro dello Scalzo]], Florence.<ref name="Van der Windt">Van der Windt, Hans. “New Light on Alessandro Allori's Additions to the Frescoes at Poggio a Caiano.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 142, no. 1164, 2000, pp. 170–175. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/888694. Accessed 8 September 2024.</ref>
[[File:Alessandro Allori - Bianca Capello (Dallas Museum).jpg|thumb|left|''Portrait of Grand Duchess Bianca Capello de Medici'', by Allori, [[Dallas Museum of Art]]]]

[[S. J. Freedberg]] derides Allori as derivative, claiming he illustrates "the ideal of [[Mannerism#Nomenclature|Maniera]] by which art (and style) are generated out of pre-existing art."{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} The cold and polished appearance of his painted figures makes them resemble statues as much as living beings. The art historian Simona Lecchini Giovannoni is more positive, remarking that Allori gives life to these "grandiose, introverted figures" by surrounding them with realistic depictions of plants and flowers, household furniture, and textiles; the paintings "approach the spectator, not with dialogue and sentiment, but through the tangible evidence of objects and details".<ref name="Lecchini Giovannoni"/>

Among his collaborators was [[Giovanni Maria Butteri]] and his main pupil was [[Giovanni Bizzelli]]. [[Cristofano dell'Altissimo]], [[Cesare Dandini]], [[Aurelio Lomi]], John Mosnier, [[Alessandro Pieroni]], [[Giovanni Battista Vanni]], and Monanni also were his pupils.<ref>Hobbes J.R. page 5</ref> He was the father of the painter [[Cristofano Allori]] (1577–1621).

In his ''[[Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects]]'', Vasari says that the relationships between [[Jacopo Pontormo]] and his pupil Bronzino, and between Bronzino and Allori, resembled those between fathers and sons; he consequently describes the three as a kind of artistic dynasty, despite the lack of literal family ties.<ref name="Pilliod"/> In some ways, Allori is the last of the line of prominent Florentine painters, of generally undiluted Tuscan artistic heritage: [[Andrea del Sarto]] worked with [[Fra Bartolomeo]] (as well as [[Leonardo da Vinci]]), Pontormo briefly worked under Andrea, and trained Bronzino, who trained Allori. Subsequent generations in the city would be strongly influenced by the tide of [[Baroque]] styles pre-eminent in other parts of Italy.

==Main works==
[[Image:Alessandro Allori 002.jpg|thumb|''Christ with Mary and Martha'', oil on wood, 125 x 118 cm<br>Kunsthistorisches Museum]]
* ''Portrait of a Young Man'' (1561; [[Ashmolean Museum]], [[Oxford]])
* ''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'' (Altarpiece, 1575, [[Santa Maria Novella]], now Prato)
* ''Road to Calvary''  (1604, Rome)
* ''Dead Christ and Angels'', (Museum Fine Arts, Budapest)<ref name="wga">[http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/a/allori/alessand/ Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1100-1850)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* ''Portrait of Piero de Médici'', ([[São Paulo Art Museum]], [[São Paulo]])
* ''Pearl Fishing'' (1570–72, Studiolo of Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence)
* ''[[:Image:AlloriSusanna.jpg|Susanna and the Elders]]'' (202 × 117&nbsp;cm, [[Musée Magnin]], [[Dijon]])
* ''Allegory of Human Life''<ref name="wga"/>
* ''The Miracle of St. Peter Walking on Water''<ref name="wga"/>
* ''Venus and Cupid'',<ref name="wga"/> ([[Musée Fabre]], [[Montpellier]])
* Additions to [[Andrea del Sarto]]'s ''[[Tribute to Caesar (del Sarto and Allori)|Tribute to Caesar]]'' (1582; [[Villa di Poggio a Caiano]])

In 2006 the BBC foreign correspondent [[Charles Wheeler (journalist)|Sir Charles Wheeler]] returned an original Alessandro Allori painting to the [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]]. He had been given it in Germany in 1952, but only recently realized its origin and that it must have been looted in the wake of World War II. The work is possibly a portrait of Eleonora (Dianora) di Toledo de' Medici, niece of [[Eleonora di Toledo]], and measures 12&nbsp;cm x 16&nbsp;cm.<ref name="charleswheeler">{{
cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5037002.stm
|publisher=BBC
|title=Reporter returns looted portrait
|date=1 June 2006
}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">
File:Alessandro Allori 003.jpg|[[Maria de' Medici (1540–1557)|Maria de Medici]] (probably), c. 1555
File:Alessandro Allori, Sainte Famille avec le cardinal Fernand de Médicis (1584), huile sur toile, 363 x 201 - Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado (36903026421).jpg|Holy Family with Cardinal Fernando de Médicis, 1584
File:Alessandro Allori - The Body of Christ Anointed by Two Angels - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Body of Christ Anointed by Two Angels'', c. 1593
File:Allori - Portrait of a Lady in Black and White, about 1590-1599.jpg|''Portrait of a Lady in Black and White'', 1590s
File:Alessandro Allori - Study of two seated girls - NMH 144-1863 - Nationalmuseum.jpg|''Study of Two Seated Girls''
File:Arazzeria medicea su cartone di alessandro allori, adorazione dei magi, 1583, 05.JPG|''Adoration of the Magi'', detail from a 1583 tapestry designed by Allori

</gallery>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* [http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/allori1.html Alessandro Allori in the "History of Art"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517212836/https://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/allori1.html |date=2021-05-17 }}
* ''Painting in Italy 1500-1600'', [[Sydney Joseph Freedberg|Freedberg, S.J.]] (Penguin History of Art, 2nd Edition, 1983).
* {{cite book | first= James R.|last= Hobbes|title = The Picture Collector's Manual: Dictionary of names| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4koEAAAAQAAJ| year = 1849| publisher = T. & W. Boone }}

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
* [http://art.onilm.com/index.php?/category/11 Alessandro Allori Paintings Gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330165035/http://art.onilm.com/index.php?%2Fcategory%2F11 |date=2012-03-30 }} (Public Domain Paintings - www.art.onilm.com)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allori, Alessandro}}
[[Category:1535 births]]
[[Category:1607 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Painters from Florence]]
[[Category:Italian Mannerist painters]]
[[Category:Italian portrait painters]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]