Portrait of Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici

Portrait of Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici, dated 1585 and in the Uffizi Gallery, depicts one of the many Lorenzo di Giovanni members of the extended Medici family, placing this work within the ongoing Medici dynastic portrait programme of the later sixteenth century. Allori's position as the senior Florentine painter of the 1580s made him the natural choice for official dynastic portraiture, succeeding Bronzino in that role. The Uffizi as the eventual repository of this work is appropriate — Cosimo I established the Uffizi as both a civic administrative building and an art collection, and its holdings of Medici portraiture form one of the world's great concentrations of Renaissance dynastic imagery. Allori's mature style is fully on display in works from this decade: the balance of individual likeness and aristocratic dignity, the precise rendering of costly dress, and the sustained technical quality of his surface.

Oil on panel with the polished, controlled technique of Allori's mature portraiture. The sitter's doublet and accessories are rendered with the material precision that communicates rank, while the face is modeled with the smooth, reflective quality that distinguishes expensive Mannerist portraiture from lesser production.