Grand Duke of Tuscany
(b Florence, 25 March 1541; reg 1574–87; d Poggio a Caiano, 19 Oct 1587). Son of Cosimo I de’ Medici and Eleonora de’ Medici. His education included instruction in science and the decorative arts, and these were to remain his abiding interests. Bronzino painted a portrait of Eleonora with Francesco (1549–50; workshop versions, Pisa, Mus. N. S. Matteo; Cincinnati, OH, A. Mus.). He was again painted by Bronzino in 1551 (Florence, Uffizi), the first of a series of quadretti of Cosimo’s children at the same age. The last image of his youth was the idealized portrait by Bronzino’s pupil Alessandro Allori (c. 1559; replica in Chicago, IL, A. Inst.) of Francesco with a miniature of his sister Lucrezia (d 1561).
Nigel Gauk-Roger