ABSTRACT
An amateur artist, avid collector, and curator to Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici, Filippo Baldinucci was one of the most prolific and significant writers on art in the early modern period. His solid reputation as an art historian was established with the publication of the Notizie de’ professori del disegno between 1681 and 1728, a multi-volume work that can claim to be the first pan-European history of art due to its international scope. In general, Baldinucci’s massive effort has been highly regarded by art historians for its accuracy, particularly concerning late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Tuscan artists. The only misfortune lies in the fact that his broad historical reach did not sufficiently extend to the female gender. As Baldinucci characterizes it, Vigri’s art was simply an additional means of expressing her devotion to God, and the purported healing powers of her image of the Christ-child demonstrate how her creative life was completely suffused with holiness.
