English: This commanding portrait is a contemporary version of Cristofano dell'Altissimo's depiction of Ippolito de' Medici (1511-1535), in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence (inv. no. 1890).1 Ippolito was the illegitmate son of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici and his only male progeny. When his cousin, Giuliano de' Medici, was elected pope in 1523, Ippolito ruled Florence in his place and was eventually made cardinal in 1529.

Cristofano painted the portrait posthumously, circa 1562-65, some thirty years after Ippolito's death. The artist used Titian's contemporary portrait of Ippolito, now in the Galleria Palatina, Florence (inv. no. 201, fig. 1), as a guideline for the sitter's face. Titian had painted Ippolito in Bologna in late 1532 or early 1533, shortly after his return from battle against the Turks and depicted him in Hungarian costume.2 Cristofano, however, chose to represent Ippolito in a bust length format and substituted the Hungarian garments for cardinal's robes.

1. K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, 15th-18th Centuries, Florence 1983, vol. II, p. 1079-1080, cat. no. 62.1, reproduced.

2. Ibid., p. 1058, cat. no. 12.