An Allegory of Fortitude

Michele Tosini began his training in the workshop of Lorenzo di Credi, and in 1525 moved to the workshop of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, with whom he frequently collaborated. He took on a significant role in the workshop from the 1540s, eventually taking it over entirely and adopting Ridolfo’s name as his own. His more mature works, such as the panel under discussion here, show a keen Mannerist influence that draws on his Florentine contemporaries, including Bronzino, Salviati and, later, Vasari, with whom Tosini also collaborated on the decorative scheme in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
This fine panel can be placed with a group of pictures that show female figures, in half- or bust-length, crisply executed and featuring common motifs. This group includes Lucretia and Leda (both Rome, Galleria Borghese); a Saint Mary Magdalen (sold Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2010, lot 196); a Judith (sold in these Rooms, 27 April 1928, lot 41); and the Head of a Woman, sold in these Rooms, 7 December 2018, lot 171 (£118,750; fig. 1), which featured a similar lion motif on the headdress. Indeed, the jewelled pendant hanging from the lion’s jaw reappears in a number of these panels, suggesting that it was may have been a prop in the artist’s studio.