Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici

This portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici was painted around 1538, shortly after the young Cosimo assumed power as Duke of Florence at age seventeen following the assassination of his predecessor Alessandro. Pontormo was one of the Medici court's principal painters, and this portrait captures the new ruler at the outset of what would become a long and consequential reign over Florence and later all of Tuscany. trained by Leonardo and Andrea del Sarto, developed radically original Mannerist idiom in Florence.

The official portrait format conveys the young duke's authority through formal composition and rich costume detail. Pontormo's characteristically sensitive rendering of the face reveals Cosimo's youth beneath the trappings of power.