Sandro Botticelli
Portrait of a Man Holding a Medal of Cosimo De'Medici

Date:

1447/75

57.5 X 44 cm

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

Young Man with Medal

Botticelli, stepping into the time where portraits were advancing to be more revealing and life-like, painted a three-quarter view of this man. During this same time period, portraits of women were still painted in profile only. Botticelli’s personal style is revealed in almost every one of his portrait paintings in both his early and later years as an artist. Botticelli used detailed shading along with defined cheek and jaw lines and creating full lips. All of his portraits seem to have a certain quality in them that remind the viewer that Botticelli was the artist.

The man in the portrait is thought to be one of the Medici clan. He is holding a medal in his hands showing the viewer a small portrait of Cosimo Medici. This painting was done shortly after Medici died, so this may have been a generational painting with the young man being Medici’s son or grandson. On the medal is the inscription describing Medici as the ‘first father of the fatherland.’ The Medici family was the most prominent family in Florence and is considered to be an important part of Florentine’s history.