Discesa al limbo 1584

Alessandro Allori painted this oil on panel, "Descent into Limbo," sometime in the late 16th century. Allori was a Florentine painter who trained with Bronzino, and as such was part of the Mannerist style. Mannerism in painting was popular at the time and was characterized by elongated forms, exaggerated poses, and often strange proportions. You can see elements of this in the somewhat artificial, theatrical scene depicted here, Christ's stretched-out arm as he reaches down to the kneeling figure. Florence at this time was a highly structured, conservative society, and the art produced there reflected the values of the ruling Medici family and the Catholic Church. It was a period of great artistic innovation, but one that operated within strict boundaries. When considering paintings like this, the art historian looks to a range of sources - contemporary social and religious theory, artist biographies, and institutional records - in order to understand the context in which the artist was working.