LIVIO AGRESTI (Forli 1505 - Rome, 1579) - The Virgin and Child, Saint John and an Angel

Livio Agresti belongs to the Mannerist movement around Trometta and Zuccaro. Originally from the Emilian region, he worked in Rome at Castel Sant'Angelo with Perino del Vaga. He painted several cycles of frescoes in Roman churches and altarpieces for Romagna and Umbria. This modello was dated from the 1570s, probably in view of an altar table not found. The Mannerist colorful range of violet, pink, yellow and pale green can be recognized from its large formats, for example those kept in Narni in Umbria.
Two preparatory drawings are known. On one of them, very finished in the details and preserved in the British Museum in London (32 x 25 cm inv 1009.31), the central group is identical, but the upper part is curved and with a semicircle of cherubs. Another sketch of the setting up of the only group of the Virgin and Child was at the Enrico Frascione gallery in Florence in 2017 (see its catalog of the Biennale Internazionale dell 'Antiquario of September 2017).
Old restorations
Beautiful marble columns of the sixteenth century.

Bibliography:
Mario di Giampaolo, Livio Agresti, an aggiunta al catalogo dei dipinti, "Antichita viva", XXVI, 1987, I, pp. 15-16; G Viroli, Pittura del Cinecento a Forli, vol. II, Bologna, 1993, No. 75.
Exposure
Torgiano, Fondazione Lungarotti, Museo del Vino, Bozzeti, modelli e grisailles dal XVI al XVIII secolo, 28 October - 20 November 1988, n ° 2, p.16 (notice by Mario di Giampaolo, repro, before restoration).