His early career is documented primarily through works on paper, which display a confident command of light and shadow, a rapid and expressive handling, and a wide range of visual references. Alongside Florentine models of the early Cinquecento, his drawings and paintings reflect awareness of contemporary artistic developments in central Italy. The fresco of the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew (1587, Florence, Church of San Pier Maggiore) marks his first secure pictorial commission and exemplifies his assimilation of reformed naturalism combined with lessons drawn from Roman art.

This lively and vibrant painting presents a masterful use of contemporary tonalities, with striking shades. The composition breathes life into the figures through a soft portrayal of the Virgin, reminiscent of Neo-Pontormo’s style, and the ethereal quality of John the Baptist’s hair and fleece. The meticulous emphasis on anatomical accuracy, underscored by the balanced use of shadows, alongside the intricate arrangement of drapery, echo the artistic fervour of the early 1590s.

All the stylistic elements confirm a dating around 1594, as proposed by Forlani, who convincingly suggested associating this work with the painting documented on December 20, 1594, in Boscoli’s libro dei conti that details a transaction involving forty-two lire for this piece to “Master Luca di Potenti,” a craftsman from Borgo San Jacopo, Florence.

Boscoli’s Neo-Pontormesque attention to the chipped, swirling folds of the cloaks, the deep shadows inhabiting the eye sockets or cast across the forehead, and the lucid transparency of a palette composed of muted pinks, yellows, and purples - occasionally flecked with sharper, higher-pitched shadows - is especially noteworthy. The plump hands of the Virgin and the bodies of the two children move beyond mere stylization to acquire a median tone of everyday naturalness and a charming irregularity of profiles, bending themselves to the formal articulation of emotions. Although the face of the Madonna may appear abstract and distant, her hands and the expressive gestures of Jesus, holding one end of a ribbon inscribed with “ECCE AGN[US] DEI,” constitute the point from which that emotional chain unfolds, embracing the children through gestures and faces in the game-symbol of the fruit. In this restitution of illustrious models reinterpreted in a lyrical and intimate key, the full depth of Santi di Tito’s teaching is revealed, and above all the affectionate and tender influence of Barocci’s painting of the affections.