Don Giovanni and Don Garzia de' Medici

Vasari's fresco of Don Giovanni and Don Garzia de' Medici, executed in 1556 in the Palazzo Vecchio, depicts two sons of Cosimo I de' Medici — brothers whose deaths in the same month of 1562 would devastate the ducal family. Don Giovanni (1543–1562) and Don Garzia (1547–1562) both died young, reportedly of malaria contracted during a hunting expedition, though rumours of fratricidal violence persisted. At the time of the fresco's execution they were teenagers, painted as part of the broader Medici family programme that Vasari was constructing across the Palazzo Vecchio. Their portraits thus acquired tragic retrospective significance after their deaths, becoming commemorative images of sons who never reached adulthood. Vasari's depiction presents them as vigorous young Medici princes, unknowing of the fate awaiting them six years hence.

Fresco technique required Vasari to capture youthful likenesses with the confident, unflinching application that plaster's drying time demands. The brothers are likely depicted in courtly dress or possibly hunting costume, given the active outdoor pursuits associated with young Medici princes. The fresco's integration into the Palazzo Vecchio's larger decorative programme gives it both intimate portrait qualities and monumental public function.