CIGOLI, CARDI Ludovico detto il. — Painter, architect, and sculptor, born at Cigoli (S. Miniato) on 21 Sept. 1559; died in Rome on 8 June 1613. A pupil of Alessandro Allori, he sought in painting complex colouristic and chiaroscural effects, combining elements drawn also from Santi di Tito and from Barocci. His eclectic reformism reveals intentions of surpassing Mannerist taste.
Principal works include: the Madonna with Child in Budapest (1582); the Deposition and the Ecce Homo in the Pitti Gallery (respectively 1597 and 1607) and the Martyrdom of St Stephen in the Accademia (1597) in Florence; the frescoes with Stories of Cupid and Psyche (1610–12) in Rome (Capitoline Gallery). A wax statuette by C., an anatomical study, is preserved in the Bargello in 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 chromatic intentions.