Allori
† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Allori
(1) Angiolo di Cosimo
Called IL BRONZINO, an exceptionally able painter and poet, b. at Monticello, near Florence, in 1502; d. at Florence in 1572. He was a pupil of Raffaelino del Garbo and later of Jacopo da Pontormo, whom he assisted, and some of whose unfinished works he completed. Allori, who was the friend of Vasari, became court painter to the Medicean tyrant Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Among his brilliant series of portraits are those of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. A great admirer of Michael Angelo, his work shows that master's grandiose influence. Among his religious, allegorical, and historical paintings the chief is the "Limbo", or "Descent of Christ into Hell", in the Uffizi. For Florentine public buildings Allori executed various works. Some of his most notable paintings in public galleries are "Young Sculptor", "Boy with a Letter", "A Lady", and "Ferdinando de' Medici", in the Uffizi; "The Engineer", at the Pitti Palace; "Cosimo I", "Knight of St.Stephan", "A Lady", and "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time", in the National Gallery in London, the last two painted for Francis I of France; "Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen", in the Louvre; the "Dead Christ", in the Florence Academy; and "Venus and Cupid", at Buda-Pesth. In the galleries of Vienna and Dresden appear portraits of his patron, Cosimo, accompanied by the Duchess Eleonora. Similar portraits are found at Lucca in both the Royal Palace and the Communal Gallery, and in Rome in the palace of the Borghese. The duchess is also represented at the Uffizi.
(2) Allessandro Allori
A nephew of (1), b. at Florence, 1535, d. there 1607, was an artist of much ability and was patronized by the Grand Duke Francesco.
(3) Cristofano Allori
Allessandro's son, known as BRONZINO THE YOUNGER, b. at Florence, 1577, d. there 1621, a pupil of his father, of Santo di Tito and Cigoli, and of somewhat irregular life, was a painter of talent both in figure and landscape and one of the best colourists of the Florentine school.
VASARI, Lives of the Painters (Eng. Tr. London, 1850; New York, 1896); CHARLES BLANC, L'Ecole Florentine, in his Histoire des peinires de toutes les ecoles (40 vols., Paris, 1848-76); BALDINUCCI, Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua (Florence, 1681-1728, 1767-74, 1846-47; Turin, 1768. 1817); DESOBRY AND BACHELET Dictionnaire general, (Paris, 1857, 1883); CHAMPLIN AND PERKINS, Cyclopedia of Painters and Painting (New York, 1887); BRYAN, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (London and New York, 1903-5).
AUGUSTUS VAN CLEEF
Transcribed by Sherry R. Stuck (St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Elkhart, Indiana. November 16, 1998.)