Alessandro Allori Florence 1535 - 1607

This small painting portrays Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), eldest son of Granduke Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo. The attribution to Allori was first proposed by Mario Scalini and a date of circa 1556-58 suggested (see Literature below). He further states that the portrait was intended as a gift from Francesco to his sister Lucrezia (1540-1561) on the occasion of her marriage to Duke Alfonso II d'Este in June 1558; a hypothesis further strengthened by the unusual inclusion of a decorative border in precious gold leaf. He probably gave it to her when accompanying her to Ferrara and at the same time Francesco received from Lucrezia a small portrait of herself, seen being held by him in another portrait by Allori (see K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, vol. II, Florence 1983, p. 855, cat. no. 13). Francesco's physiognomy may be compared to that in another portrait by Allori, thought to derive from a lost original by Bronzino, in which Francesco is portrayed holding a medallion and which was delivered to the Guardaroba Medicea in 1562 (inv. Poggio Imperiale, no. 1203; Langedijk, op. cit., p. 854, cat. no. 12).