Vincenzo Dandini e la pittura fiorentina del Seicento

Brother of (1) Cesare Dandini. He first trained with his brother and then matriculated in the Accademia del Disegno in 1631. He worked in Rome c. 1635–6, studying ancient and modern works and also as a member of Pietro da Cortona's workshop. He then returned to Florence and collaborated over the next two decades with his elder brother. He often worked for the Medici court, particularly for Lorenzo de' Medici, for whom he painted the Adoration of Niobe and Venus, Mercury and Cupid (1637–8; Florence, Uffizi), and later for the Medici tapestry factory (1662–3). Besides working in fresco and making cartoons for tapestries, he produced numerous paintings on literary and religious themes, for example the signed and dated SS Carlo Borromeo and Andrea Zoerandro (1657; Arezzo, S Maria in Gradi) and SS Bernardino of Siena and Giovanni Capestrano Adoring the Name of Jesus (1667; Florence, Mus. Ognissanti). His drawings are clearly influenced by his brother and by Pietro da Cortona (see Thiem in 1981 exh. cat.). Those studies and copies from the Dandini studio collection inscribed V.D.v. are probably done by him. As with Cesare, his style became more animated and dramatic in later works. Pupils of Vincenzo included his nephew (3) Pietro Dandini and Anton Domenico Gabbiani (documented by letters of 1673–4). Briefly mentioned by Baldinucci, Vincenzo emerges (Borea and Bellesi; see 1977 and 1986 exh. cats) as a significant artistic personality, displaying at times a great truth to nature and sense of humanity, as seen in St Anne