Francesco de' Medici

Description

Francesco de’ Medici was the oldest son of Florentine duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and Eleanora di Toledo, great patrons of the arts who instilled the same appreciation in their children. Francesco is shown here displaying a cameo of an unidentified female figure, highlighting his interest in collecting. One of his creations as a patron was the so-called Studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, a space dedicated to the appreciation of refined, intricate works of art and scientific curiosities. Francesco succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany only grudgingly, preferring a life of scholarship to statecraft.

Provenance

Probably Prince Anatole Demidoff, Villa San Donato, Florence (d. 1870) [see McComb 1928; the painting may be the “Portrait de Come di Médicis” attributed to Bronzino that was sold in the March 15, 1880 sale of the contents of the Villa San Donato as lot 1387]. Sulley and Co., London [according to Townsend and Howard 1919]; sold by Sulley and Co. to Edward R. Bacon (d. 1915), New York and Netherdale House, Turriff, Aberdeenshire [according to Townsend and Howard 1919]; at his death to his sister-in-law, Virginia Purdy Bacon; sold Christie’s, London, December 12, 1919, no. 69, as Bronzino, Portrait of a Youth, for ₤620 [according to an annotated sale catalogue in the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles]. Duveen Brothers, New York, by 1925 [according to McComb 1928 and information on the mount of a photograph of this picture in the Witt Library, London]. Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., Pittsburgh, by 1932 [according to Berenson 1932]; given to the Art Institute, 1965.

Francesco de' Medici

Alessandro Allori

c. 1560

Accession Number

24684

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

97.9 × 76.4 cm (38 1/2 × 30 1/8 in.); Framed: 117.7 × 96.9 × 10.2 cm (46 3/8 × 38 1/8 × 4 in.)

Classification

painting

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.