MICHELE DI RIDOLFO TOSINI
(Florence, 1503 – 1577)

Cleopatra

Oil on canvas
16 ⅝ x 12 ⅛ inches (39.7 x 30.5 cm)

Inscribed on the verso: “Francesco Salviati.” Bears two wax seals on the verso, one a Tuscan customs stamp of the 18th century, the other an unidentified family crest.

Provenance:

Descended for at least three generations in a noble French family, Bordeaux, until 2024.

The subject of Death of Cleopatra afforded the Renaissance artist the opportunity to portray a beautiful woman of legendary beauty, a figure in conflict as she contemplates suicide, a Queen adorned with spectacular jewelry. Here, the Florentine mannerist painter Michele Tosini portrays her half-length, adorned with an elaborate headdress, in a subtle twisting motion against a richly decorated wall hanging. The poisonous asp that she permitted to kill her rises from the lower left, its tongue provocatively extended towards her breast.

Tosini has elaborated on earlier depictions of Cleopatra, such as Domenico Puligo’s of the 1530s (Fig. 1), introducing both exoticizing elements and, quite literally, serpentine movement to the figure. His source of inspiration was clearly Michelangelo, to whom he was both friend and devotee, with drawings such as his Cleopatra (Fig. 2) and his subjectless ideal heads (“teste divine”).

Dr. Heidi J. Hornik has written (January 2024) of our Cleopatra:

Michele Tosini, better known by his contemporaries as Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, produced numerous bust length female portraits between 1560–1570. His most popular subjects were Cleopatra, as illustrated here, and Mary Magdalen (Fig. 3). These elegant Late Renaissance or Mannerist subjects find their source in Michelangelo’s Teste Divine drawings, such as those in the Uffizi, the Ashmolean Museum, and the British Museum.

In the 1550s and 1560s, Tosini was a friend of Michelangelo and collaborator with Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574). Michelangelo writes letters to Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici on behalf of Tosini stating his responsible nature and consistent production. Giorgio Vasari, often considered the first art historian, authoring The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Le vite) included “Michele di Ridolfo” instead of many other contemporary painters in those biographies. Vasari, himself a painter and architect, alongside artists Montorsoli, Bronzino, and Tosini formed the Accademia del Disegno in 1563 to elevate the organization and training of artists beyond the guild system dedicated to St. Luke.

Cleopatra is a fine example of the height and beauty of Tosini’s oeuvre and should be dated ca. 1565. As in this painting, Tosini depicted beautiful women with elaborate hair styles, voluminous draperies, and vibrant colors (often changeant). The static local colors of the Renaissance were replaced by vibrant pastels often replicating the reflections of light off shot silk fabric. This change in color palette by the Mannerist artists originated in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512).      

Michele’s training began in the conservative Ghirlandaio workshop tradition of the cinquecento (1500s) under the leadership of Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1483–1561), Domenico’s son. But by the mid-1560s, Tosini had undergone a “Vasarian conversion” and adapted this Mannerist palette and style. An example of Vasari’s influence can be seen in his Judith and Holofernes of 1554 (Fig. 4). Cleopatra’s hair is wrapped elaborately around her head like the Judith while ornate jewels are interwoven into the braided hair to add a sumptuous quality and appearance of wealth to the painted image. Her earrings, clasped brocade, and necklace further emphasize her beauty and are painted in a mode characteristic of Tosini’s work at this time showing his mastery of draftsmanship, detail, color, and reflected light.

Cleopatra’s impending suicide is embodied in the presence of the asp with tongue extended adjacent to her bare breast. She looks calmly but longingly into the distance with uplifted eyes deeply set into her smoothly complected skin. Delicate pursed lips, barely under a shadow caste subtly downward from her nose, further contribute to the softness and tactile quality of her face. Tosini employed a very similar composition for a Mary Magdalen (Private Collection) from the same period. The Magdalen’s urn replaces the asp, and her breast is draped.