The painting, according to Vasari as evidenced, was made in Florence for Lorenzo Nasi, a rich merchant of wool cloths, on the occasion of his wedding with Sandra Canigiani, a woman belonging to the upper bourgeoisie in Florence.
The couple lived in the steep Costa San Giorgio and on 12 November 1547 the house was fried. In the rubble was found the painting of Raffaello in seventeen fragments, who were recovered and entrusted to the restoration, perhaps commissioning Michele di Ridolfo of the Ghirlandaio. The X -ray analysis has in fact demonstrated the fractures between the pieces, reassembled with nails and filled by new painting.
Vasari dwelling in hellish this work, the only one of the Florentine period described with amplitude in the lives. Entry into the collections of Cardinal Giovan Carlo de ‘Medici in 1666, he finally flowed to the Uffizi.
In the inventory drawn up to the Cardinal’s death, the work was estimated 600 shields, a record cost, among the highest of the entire lot of paintings. It was located in the grandstand in 1705 and in the mid -nineteenth century it was one of the most admired and copied works of the gallery, particularly appreciated by the purist taste of the time.
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