# Francesco de' Medici

- By: Alessandro Allori (Italian, 1535–1607)
- Date: c. 1560
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 97.9 × 76.4 cm (38 1/2 × 30 1/8 in.); Framed: 117.7 × 96.9 × 10.2 cm (46 3/8 × 38 1/8 × 4 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24684)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/b3cfd0f3d1133cb53dce11e82b47470f.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Francesco de’ Medici was the oldest son of Florentine duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and Eleanora di Toledo, great patrons of the arts who instilled the same appreciation in their children. Francesco is shown here displaying a cameo of an unidentified female figure, highlighting his interest in collecting. One of his creations as a patron was the so-called Studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, a space dedicated to the appreciation of refined, intricate works of art and scientific curiosities. Francesco succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany only grudgingly, preferring a life of scholarship to statecraft.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0