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Lot Essay
This Female Allegory is an important addition to Giovanni Bilivert's oeuvre, representing the artist's sophisticated large-scale compositions of the latter decades of his career. Pierre Rosenberg correctly identified the artist of this work prior to the 1981 exhibition of Florentine drawings at the Louvre, overriding previous attributions to Ludovico Cigoli and Bernardo Strozzi. The signature 'GB' which appears on the stretcher of the table is not mentioned by either Monbeig Goguel or Contini (op. cit.), indicating that there has been little first-hand knowledge of the painting until now.
Two related drawings allow for an accurate dating of this picture. In the Louvre sketch, Young girl bust-length in profile (fig. 1), Bilivert beautifully captures the pose used in both this picture and in the Allegory of Tenderness (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), which dates to circa 1641. A three-quarter-length drawing intricately worked with costume details and with the artist's annotations for colouring was discovered by Contini (Providence, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art) and provides further evidence for a late dating of this work. The soft modelling, sfumato effects and the use of abundant drapery within the composition are characteristics most commonly associated with Bilivert's former student Francesco Furini and were adopted by the older artist in the mid-1630s.
Bilivert's biographers do not appear to have recorded this work, allowing for continued speculation about the subject and the commission. Contini points out that Bilivert's Allegory of Deceit, painted for the Marquis Gerini and recorded by Orazio Fidani sometime before 1656: 'Fece per il Sig.r Marchese Gierini [sic] un quadro dove rappresentò la Finzione mentre stavo seco', is an unlikely match for our picture as that picture was described in greater detail in the 1825 Gerini sale catalogue as a full-length nude in a landscape with flowers and musical instruments: 'Figura intera al natural di Donna sedente alla Compagna, con Fiorami, ed Emblemi musicali' (op. cit.). While it is tempting to associate this type of sensual female portrayal with depictions of the Magdalene, the jar attribute invariably associated with the Saint is notably lacking despite the inclusion of an elaborate still life beside the figure. Like the Magdalene, the subject of this picture renounces vanities by removing a richly decorated ribbon from her hair, shedding a fur-lined cloak and turning away from the mirror, she represents instead a profane iteration of modesty.
Two related drawings allow for an accurate dating of this picture. In the Louvre sketch, Young girl bust-length in profile (fig. 1), Bilivert beautifully captures the pose used in both this picture and in the Allegory of Tenderness (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), which dates to circa 1641. A three-quarter-length drawing intricately worked with costume details and with the artist's annotations for colouring was discovered by Contini (Providence, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art) and provides further evidence for a late dating of this work. The soft modelling, sfumato effects and the use of abundant drapery within the composition are characteristics most commonly associated with Bilivert's former student Francesco Furini and were adopted by the older artist in the mid-1630s.
Bilivert's biographers do not appear to have recorded this work, allowing for continued speculation about the subject and the commission. Contini points out that Bilivert's Allegory of Deceit, painted for the Marquis Gerini and recorded by Orazio Fidani sometime before 1656: 'Fece per il Sig.r Marchese Gierini [sic] un quadro dove rappresentò la Finzione mentre stavo seco', is an unlikely match for our picture as that picture was described in greater detail in the 1825 Gerini sale catalogue as a full-length nude in a landscape with flowers and musical instruments: 'Figura intera al natural di Donna sedente alla Compagna, con Fiorami, ed Emblemi musicali' (op. cit.). While it is tempting to associate this type of sensual female portrayal with depictions of the Magdalene, the jar attribute invariably associated with the Saint is notably lacking despite the inclusion of an elaborate still life beside the figure. Like the Magdalene, the subject of this picture renounces vanities by removing a richly decorated ribbon from her hair, shedding a fur-lined cloak and turning away from the mirror, she represents instead a profane iteration of modesty.