Giovanni Maria Butteri

Florence, 1540 c. - 1606

Born in Florence around 1540, as Vasari reminds us, he was admitted to the Academy of Drawing in 1564. First pupil of Bronzino, he became a long-time collaborator of Alessandro Allori, from whom he derived the immobile forms, of mineral consistency, struck by a hard and clear light attenuated only sometimes by the airiness and simplicity of Santi di Tito, acutely indicated by Baldinucci as another pole of his inspirations.

He is documented for the first time in 1564, when he painted, in the apparatus for Michelangelo's funeral, Michelangelo the poet with Apollo and the Muses. In 1565 he had his first important commission for the Medici for whom he participated in the decorations for the arrival in Florence of Giovanna d’Austria, on the occasion of her wedding to Francesco de' Medici. Again, for the Medici, in 1570-71 he created two panels for the study of Francesco I in Palazzo Vecchio: the Vetreria and Enea arrives in Italy. His constant relationship with the Medici court led Butteri to paint for the decoration of Ferdinand's wedding (1589) .

Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine,

with Saint John the Young and Saint Francis

Oil on panel, 71.5 x 93 cm

Provenance

Private collection

The panel, of typically mannerist design, was in all most probably commissioned for private devotion and can easily be given, as suggested by Carlo Falciani, to the Florentine painter Giovanni Maria Butteri. Typical of Butteri are the intricate and almost crowded compositions, as in this case, which demonstrate his ability to create dynamism with engaging scenes. The use of vivid colours, such as the green and yellow of Saint Catherine and the pink of the Virgin's robe, the details and theatrical poses, contribute to creating that sense of artifice typical of Tuscan mannerism. Also, in this case Butteri plays with spatial relationships, where the saints and the virgin, characters arranged on different levels, visually fill the space in a complex way with forced proportions typical of the period. This causes a sense of theatricality that dramatizes the poses and gestures of the characters, each of which tries to attract the viewer's attention.

The Virgin and Saint John the Young in our panel almost seem to be the same models used for the panel depicting the Holy Family with Saint John the Young, kept at the Archconfraternity of Mercy in Florence which we can place in the period immediately following its experience in the Studiolo of Palazzo Vecchio, but before the 80s when the artist appears linked to counter-reformation themes.

A full fact sheet is available on request.