ALLORI, Alessandro, a painter of the Florentine school, was born at Florence in 1535, and died in 1607. Having lost his father in his fifth year, he was brought up and trained in art by his uncle, Angelo Bronzino, whose name he sometimes assumed in his pictures. Visiting Rome in his nineteenth year, he carefully studied the works of Michael Angelo; but having himself little genius and no originality, the influence of that great master can inly be traced in the anatomical correctness of his draw- .ng of nude figures. He was very successful as a portraitpainter....
ALLORI, Cristofano, son of the preceding, was born it Florence on the 17th October 1577, and died in 1621. He received his first lessons in painting from his father, but becoming dissatisfied with the hard anatomical drawing and cold colouring of the latter, he entered the studio of Pagani, who was one of the leaders of that later Florentine school which endeavoured to unite the rich colouring of the Venetians with the correct drawing of Michael Angelo’s disciples. Allori became one of the foremost of this school. His pictures are distinguished by their close adherence to nature and the delicacy and technical perfection of their execution. His technical skill is proved by the fact that several copies he made after Correggio have been taken to be duplicates by Correggio himself. His extreme fastidiousness limited his power of production, though the number of his works is not so small as is sometimes asserted. Several specimens are to be seen at Florence and elsewhere. The finest of all his works is his “Judith and Holofernes,” in the Pitti palace. The model for the Judith was his mistress, the beautiful Mazzafirra, who is also represented in his Magdalene; and the head of Holofernes is generally supposed to represent himself, though this is questioned by the best authorities.
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