Portrait of Cosimo the Elder

The artwork

When Pontormo painted him, Cosimo de' Medici had been dead for more than fifty years: this is the portrait of a man the painter had never seen. It comes printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The face lined with age stands out against the red of his robe.
• A portrait full of character for a study, a library or an entrance hall.
• A gift for anyone who loves Florence and the history of the Medici.

Cosimo the Elder was the banker who made the Medici the masters of Florence without ever taking a title. After his death in 1464, the city honoured him as Pater Patriae, father of the homeland. In 1519 the Medici had a pope, Leo X, and the portrait of the dynasty's founder went to a twenty-five-year-old painter.

Pontormo does not make a simple likeness: he experiments with the allegorical portrait. Beside Cosimo is a laurel branch with a scroll, “Uno avulso non deficit alter”, a line from Virgil meaning: when one is torn away, another is not lacking. The cut branch that sprouts again is the family that lives on. The panel is in the Uffizi and is on display at the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome.

In a study, a library or an entrance hall: it is the gift for anyone who loves Florence, for those who work in banking or finance, for anyone who believes in things that last.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
Framed size: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with a gold fillet, handmade, with glass