Resumen de Una proposta per lo Stradanus disegnatore
Since it appeared for the first time in 2004, the oil study with the "Head of Saint John the Baptist" has attracted scholarly interest, though without securing convincing authorship. Initially ascribed to Bartolomeo Passarotti because of a certain correspondence in facial type with the "Saint Anthony of Padua" in the Capuchin church in Parma, datable to about 1575, the work has more recently been placed in the circle of Francesco Vanni. Seeking to underline the differences in style and technique between this study and Vanni's accepted graphic oeuvre, the author proposes instead to attribute the "Head of the Baptist" to Johannes Stradanus (Jan van der Straet, called Giovanni Stradano, 1523-1605), who would have carried it out in preparation for the large altarpiece formerly in the Baccelli Mazzinghi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, Florence; it is also suggested that the study is part of a presentation cartoon for the finished work. In conclusion, the essay offers a hypothesis for the identity of the patrons (Pietro, Baccio and Girolamo Baccelli) and the occasion for which the project was commissioned (the commemoration of their ancestor, the Blessed Angiolino).
