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Alfani, Domenico (di Paride)
(b Perugia, 1479–80; d 1549–57). Italian painter. The son of a goldsmith, he was a pupil of Perugino and a friend of Raphael, whose style influenced him strongly. An undated letter (Lille, Mus. B.-A.) from Raphael to Alfani, which includes a drawing of the Holy Family, asks Alfani to intervene with Atlanta Baglioni, for whom Raphael had painted the Entombment (1507; Rome, Gal. Borghese), to ask her to settle a fee. In 1510 Alfani became a member of the Perugian painters’ guild. Alfani’s earliest surviving work, painted in 1518 for S Gregorio della Sapienza, Perugia, depicts the Virgin and Child Enthroned with SS Gregory and Nicholas (Perugia, G.N. Umbria) and is based on Raphael’s Virgin and Child (the Orléans Madonna, c. 1506–7; Chantilly, Mus. Condé). Alfani based the design of an altarpiece executed with Pompeo d’Anselmo in 1520 for S Simone del Carmine, Perugia (Perugia, G.N. Umbria), on the drawing sent to him by Raphael. In the mid-1520s Alfani came under the influence of the Florentine Mannerists, particularly Rosso Fiorentino, to whom he gave shelter in 1527 when the artist was fleeing the Sack of Rome. According to Vasari, Rosso gave Alfani a drawing of the Three Magi (destr.), on which he based his altarpiece for S Maria dei Miracoli, Castel Rigone (ex-Rinuccini priv. col., Florence). In 1553 Alfani was commissioned to paint a Crucifixion for S Francesco, Perugia. He was assisted by his son Orazio Alfani (c. 1510–83), who continued his father’s business. In 1556 Orazio received payment for work he had executed for the choir of S Pietro, a commission his father had undertaken in 1547.
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