Mario Balassi

Mario Balassi learned his trade by passing from one Florentine studio to the next. Born in Florence in 1604, he trained first with Jacopo Ligozzi, then Matteo Rosselli, and finally Domenico Passignano, whom he followed to Rome as an assistant while Urban VIII sat on the papal throne and the Barberini family was remaking the city. He spent time in Venice too, and it left its mark on his colour.

Back in Tuscany he became a dependable hand for altarpieces and portraits, working for members of the Medici, the family that ruled Florence. The portrait of a Medici woman now in the Uffizi comes from his maturity, around 1660. He died in Florence seven years later and was buried in Santa Maria Novella, one of the city's great Dominican churches.