(Florence c. 1530–1605)
Portrait of Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici,
Inscribed along the top edge: “HIPPOLITVS MED,”
oil on panel, 66 x 54 cm, framed

Provenance:
Giulio Sterbini collection, Rome (by the end of 19th century;
by inheritance to Rome, Lupi collection (according to the label on the reverse);
European Private Collection

We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Pilliod for tentatively suggesting the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph and for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.

Cristofano dell’ Altissimo (di Papi) executed a series of seventeen portraits on panel (measuring approximately 60x44 cm.) of members of the Medici family, which were described by Vasari in 1568 and produced between 1562 and 1565, the original set included the portrait of Ippolito de’ Medici (1511-1535) which is now conserved in the Florence, Pitti Palace (inv. 1890, n. 3616). The present panel is almost identical to this painting of Ippolito in the Pitti with two exceptions. The original is inscribed “HIPPOLITVS MEDICES” while the present painting is inscribed “HIPPOLITVS MED,”, and in the Pitti version Ippolito is bareheaded and tonsured (see K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, II, Florence, 1983, cat. no. 62.1 ). The form of the inscription echoes that of Ferdinand I in the same series, in which the family name is identically abbreviated (see K. Langedijk, ibid., cat. no. 37.6) Cristofano himself was occupied in making replicas of the Medici portraits and the high quality of this example suggests it may have been executed by him.