Justus Sustermans

(Antwerp 1597–1681 Florence)
Portrait of the Infant Cosimo III de’ Medici in swaddling clothes,
oil on canvas, 62 x 77 cm, in an important carved and gilded 17th century frame

Provenance:
probably Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1622–1694);
Private European collection;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Filippo Gheri for suggesting the attribution of the present painting and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present painting is a new and significant addition to the corpus of work by Justus Sustermans. The overall quality of the palette, applied with a lively but controlled hand, is reminiscent of works by the Flemish painter dating to the final years of the fourth, and first of the fifth decades of the seventeenth century: a period when the artist entered a ‘picturesque’ phase, thanks to his renewed contact with his compatriot, Rubens.

The likely dating of this painting to the early years of the 1640s makes it possible to identify the infant represented as the heir to the Grand-ducal throne, the future Cosimo III, who was born in 1642. Vittoria Della Rovere´s first born, Cosimo (Cosimino), died only a few hours after his birth in 1639.

The princely tone that distinguishes this painting is also emphasized by the richly carved and gilded frame: this is ornamented with an oak leaf garland motif which is interrupted in the upper centre by the Medici coat of arms and at each of the four corners by those of the city of Florence. It is specifically the foliate ornament , which is itself a heraldic symbol that identifies the patron, or at least the intended recipient of this painting: Vittoria della Rovere, the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinand II, who remained the most faithful patron of Sustermans throughout his long career as the court portraitist.

The effigy of the prince in swaddling clothes as seen in the present painting belongs within a notable tradition of Medici portraiture. For example, the features of the Cosimino are recorded by an octagonal canvas that was executed by the brothers Valore and Domenico Casini, portraitists, which is conserved in the Museo delle Cappelle Medicee di San Lorenzo in Florence (see M. Bietti, in: M. Bietti, R. Gennaioli, E. Nardinocchi, eds., Nel segno dei Medici. Tesori sacri della devozione granducale, exhibition catalogue, Livorno 2015, pp. 70–71); this work, in compositional and chronological terms, provides an immediate precedent for the present painting.

Furthermore, additional precedents can be found among the paintings of the so-called ‘eredità d’Urbino’ [the ‘Urbino inheritance’] which arrived in Florence in 1631, and most particularly in the infant portrait: Ritratto di Federico Ubaldo Della Rovere neonato (Galleria Palatina, Florence) by the painter from Urbino, Alessandro Vitali, who was a faithful collaborator of Federico Barocci. In the Vitali painting the heir to the Ducal throne of Urbino is represented bound in swaddling clothes that are preciously ornamented with the heraldic motif of an acorn (see A. Marchi in: P. Dal Poggetto ed., I Della Rovere. Piero della Francesca Raffaello Tiziano, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2004, p. 360). It would appear that the patron, Vittoria della Rovere, wanted to display her family’s continuity through images. Here Sustermans follows the example of the painting that came with Urbino inheritance, However the portrait of the infant in the present painting is more strongly assimilated to a sacred image, and most specifically to those ‘gesuini’ [little Jesus’s] in swaddling that were so especially favoured for devotional purposes, particularly by women, during the seventeenth century.