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Attributed to GIOVANNI BILIVERT (Florence 1585-1644), Oil on canvas, Saint John the Baptist in t...

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA
Attributed to GIOVANNI BILIVERT (Florence 1585-1644), Oil on canvas, Saint John the Baptist in t...
Attributed to GIOVANNI BILIVERT (Florence 1585-1644)
Oil on canvas
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
68 x 501/2in. (172.75cms x 129cms)
In a 17th Century Florentine frame
e20,000/40,000
PROVENANCE: Purchased by Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Bt., M.P. (1805-1876), presumably in Florence, and noted on one document 'St. John' (scored through).
Another version is in the Galleria Corsini, Florence (G. Cantelli, Repertorio della Pittura Fiorentina del Seicento, Florence, 1983, pl.525, as 'Onorio Marinari'), first reattributed to Bilivert in 1961 by Professor Mina Gregori. Three preparatory drawings for the composition are known, in the Uffizi, Florence, of which one bore the later inscription 'per il Cav. Giulio pucci'. The Corsini painting is believed to have been that painted for either Allesandro or Giulio Pucci, but in addition, three other works of this description are mentioned in early sources, including Orazio Fidani (Vita del Bilivert, 1658), who listed two as having been painted for the Bini family, and Francesco Bianchi (Vita del Bilivert, 1656), who recorded that: 'He painted a Saint John the Baptist in the act of tearing a plant to feed the lamb and the painting belonged to Odoardo Portinari.'
We are grateful to Dr. Francesco Baldassare for her assistance with this lot.