Baldassarre Franceschini, called il Volterrano
(Volterra 1611–1689 Florence)
Ecce Homo,
oil on canvas, 58 x 48 cm, framed
Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Alessandro Grassi for endorsing the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present composition relates to work attributed to Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano in the Galleria Palatina, Florence (inv. no. 00642018).

The present work can be compared with Volterrano’s paintings from the mid-1650s, including the altarpiece of Santa Chiara in the Pinacoteca Civica in Volterra and the Perseus now in Schlessheim's Staatsgalerie. The face of this suffering Christ is also reminiscent of Franceschini's early work: the detached fresco with Venus and Cupid in the Bardini Museum in Florence, or figures in the Cosimo II receiving the winners of Bona painted in fresco in the courtyard of the Villa Petraia.

This type of composition was particularly appreciated and is known with variations including one that belonged to Ferdinando de' Medici, now in the Galleria Palatina in Florence (see M.C. Fabbri, A. Grassi, R. Spinelli, Volterrano. Baldassarre Franceschini 1611–1690, Florence 2013, p. 359, nos. OP 58 and OP 59; on this topic see also M. Chiarini, Gli Ecce Homo di Baldassarre Franceschini, il Volterrano, in “Arte Cristiana”, vol. 73, 1985, pp. 195–199).

Initially trained in the studio of his father, the sculptor Gaspare, Baldassarre Franceschini moved to Florence at the age of sixteen to work as an assistant to Matteo Rosselli. His first major commission was the frescoes in Villa Petraia, ordered by Lorenzo de' Medici in 1636 and finished twelve years later. In 1652 the Marquis Filippo Niccolini financed the artist a study trip to the main Italian artistic centres, allowing him to get to know the painting schools of Parma and Bologna and to come into contact in Rome with Pietro da Cortona, who left a lasting impression on his style.

The patronage of the Medici and other important families of their circle made Franceschini one of the most successful painters of the Baroque era in Florence, renowned above all for his frescoes and paintings of religious and allegorical subjects.