Italian painter. Valore Casini and his brother Dominico were portraitists active in Florence in the first half of the 17th century. They both trained in the studio of Domenico Passignano. Valore was known for his portraits, his brother often completed the vestments of the featured individuals.
One of Valore’s pupils was Filippo Furini, called Pippo Sciameroni, a portraitist, who was the father of the more famous Francesco Furini.
Christine of Lorraine (1565-1637) married the Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici in 1589. Nine children were born from this marriage, five boys and four girls.
This painting is the work of Domenico and Valore Casini. The full-life portrait derives from an original by Scipione Pulzone, in which the Grand Duchess is shown in a three-quarter representation.
In the month of April, 1628, the two brothers, Domenico and Valore Casini, consigned five portraits of personages belonging to the Medici family to the Guardaroba, for placement in a hall in the Pitti Palace. The portrait of Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici, natural son of Giuliano, the brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent) belongs to this series.
In the month of April, 1628, the two brothers, Domenico and Valore Casini, consigned five portraits of personages belonging to the Medici family to the Guardaroba, for placement in a hall in the Pitti Palace. The portrait of Leo X is essentially derived from that painted by Raphael in 1518, now in the Uffizi. Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, son of the Magnificent, attained the papal throne under the name of Leo X in 1513.
