Miracle of the Spring, with St. Filippo Benizzi

Alessandro Allori, the favourite pupil of Bronzino, was the official artist of the Medici court. He was very appreciated by the rich Florentine families and often worked with the help of pupils and collaborators. For the Spini family he decorated the chapel of the suburban villa in the middle of a flourishing estate, following a complex iconographical project that celebrated the miraculous events occurred in the main Tuscan hermitages which had helped a population suffering from hunger, thirst, disease or famine.

The composition of the scene with the miracle of the fountain is quite complex, constructed on diagonals and rendered with rapid, effective brush-strokes, with decisive drawing and strong colour contrasts, which in some parts show the participation of the artist’s collaborators. The study of the figures is extremely precise (as documented by some drawings in the Uffizi Cabinet of Drawings and Prints),  particularly those in the foreground drinking at the fountain, which have a notable expressive power. On the right the artist portrayed his patron Geri Spini, bearded according to the fashion of the time, and next to him his wife Camilla Ugolini, in the guise of pious onlookers. Above them is his mother-in-law, Isotta Soderini, and on the opposite side another male portrait. The upper part of the scene is taken up by St. Philip, isolated against the background forest in prayer.