Il presunto ritratto di Ambrogio Barocci: storia di un equivoco

The ancestor of the best-known painter Federico Barocci, Ambrogio Barocci was a Lombard sculptor involved in the decoration of the Urbino Ducal Palace at the time of Federico da Montefeltro. Despite being one of the leading artistic figures in the Montefeltro court, Ambrogio was almost forgotten in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, with the only exception of a incidental quotation in Bellori’s Vite (1672). This originated a curious case of mistaken identity that involved two self-portaits of his nephew Federico Barocci from the renowned 'Galleria di ritratti d’artista' of the Uffizi Gallery.