Augustus Van Cleef

“ Allori, (1) Angiolo di Cosimo, called Il Bronzino, an exceptionally able painter and a poet, b. at Ponticello, 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. ”

“ He painted banners for religious processions, as well as altarpieces and other pictures, died a rich man, and is supposed by Mariotti to have been the master of Perugino, Pinturicchio, and Andrea di Luigi. Some works ascribed to him are thought to be by another, and contemporary, Alunno, called Desiderato. A "Madonna Enthroned" is in the Brera Gallery in Milan, and there are altarpieces at Perugia, in the Castle at San Severino, at Gualdo La Bastia, and Foligno. ”