The paintings

This allegoric painting portrays Filippo Baldinucci, known in the Accademia as ”il Lustrato” (“the polished”), accompanied by figures representing the Accademia della Crusca, and the Arts (Architecture, Painting and Sculpture) in the draft of his Vocabolario toscano dell’arte del disegno (’Tuscan Dictionary of the Art of Drawing’) (Florence, 1681). The pleasing composition, set in the open air in a landscape lined with trees, is set out as follows: the central feminine figure, representing the Accademia della Crusca, points to a sheet of paper with Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (“Dictionary of the Academicians of the Crusca”) written on it. On the right side of Baldinucci, shown carrying his half-ready dictionary in his hands, stands another feminine figure, the Accademia del Disegno (“Academy of Drawing”). On the left the three Arts are depicted, each pointing in turn to a piece of parchment with the drawing of the genealogical tree of the Florentine artists, above a landscape of Florence. Under the two representations of Painting and Sculpture are, respectively, the drawing of a battle scene and a mutilated sculpture. In the lower right corner is the emblem of the Accademia della Crusca with the frullone and the motto: "Il più bel fior ne coglie" (“She picks the fairest flower”).