CIGOLI, CARDI LUDOVICO known as il. - Painter, architect, and sculptor, b. at Cigoli (S. Miniato), 21 Sept. 1559; d. at Rome, 8 June 1613. A pupil of Alessandro Allori, he sought in painting complexity of colouristic and chiaroscuro effects, combining elements also derived from Santi di Tito and Barocci. His eclectic reformism reveals an intention to overcome Mannerist taste.
His principal works are: the Madonna col Bambino at Budapest (1582); the Deposizione and the Ecce Homo in the Pitti Gallery (respectively 1597 and 1607), and the Martirio di S. Stefano at the Accademia (1597), in Florence; the frescoes with Storie di Amore e Piche (1610-12) in Rome (Capitoline Gallery). A small wax statuette by C., an anatomical study, is preserved in the Bargello at Florence. As an architect he was a pupil of Buontalenti. In the wooden model for the façade of S. Maria del Fiore (1586) and in the courtyard of the Palazzo non finito (1596) in Florence, C. interprets the Vasarian tradition through colouristic intentions.