Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556)

Salviati's portrait of Giovanni della Casa of 1536, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, depicts one of the most significant Italian humanists and literary figures of the sixteenth century. Giovanni della Casa (1503–1556) is best known for his Galateo, a celebrated treatise on manners and social behavior that became one of the most widely read books of the European Renaissance. He was also a poet, Archbishop of Benevento, and papal official. A portrait of 1536 would capture him at approximately thirty-three years of age, before the publication of his most celebrated works but already established as a significant literary and ecclesiastical figure. Salviati's portrayal of such a distinguished intellectual sitter in this early period of his career illustrates his access to the top levels of Italian humanist society from very early on.

Oil on canvas, the portrait adopts the format appropriate to ecclesiastical and humanist portraiture — typically three-quarter length, composed, with attributes suggesting learning. Salviati's relatively early handling in 1536 shows the confident, smooth technique he was already developing, with careful tonal modulation in the face and crisp definition of costume.