Giovanni del Brina

Giovanni Brina, who was born in San Felice a Ema, just outside Florence, on 10 March 1534, trained like his elder brother Francesco under Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio and, more especially, under Michele Tosini. He remained close to Tosini throughout his career, both in stylistic terms and in very real terms because his workshop was situated just behind that of his erstwhile master. He enrolled in the Compagnia di San Luca (also known as the “Company of Painters”) at the age of fourteen. In Florence, he took part in the decoration of Palazzo Vecchio under the guiding hand of Giorgio Vasari; he and his brother, working together, frescoed the chapel in Palazzo Ridolfi (now Ricasoli Firidolfi); and in 1581 he painted a now lost Annunciation for the former Convento della Nunziatina in the Via della Chiesa neighbourhood in the city’s Oltrarno district. For the most part, however, he worked in the surrounding countryside, particularly in the province of Arezzo.