Oil on copper, 30cm by 23cm.
The design for this painting is based on a well known composition attributed to Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530). The original is now lost, but it is known from two drawings, one in the Louvre, Paris, the other in the Uffizi, Florence.
Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793) purchased the painting, as by F. Vanni, whilst in Rome on one of his two Grand Tours.
The attribution was changed in the 1990s to Salimbeni, a Sienese-born artist and brother of Francesco Vanni (1563-1610), who was active in many parts of Italy and whose work is known for its very individual and vivid sense of colour.
