A Possible Identification of the Sitter in a Portrait by Bronzino

Based on Contemporary Documents

Abstract

This study proposes a possible identification of the sitter in Bronzino’s portrait of a young man wearing a plumed hat. Although some scholars believe that the sitter was a Florentine aristocrat, we believe that he was a Spaniard who was close to the Dukes of Florence. Among the possible candidates was Enrique Nunes, a wealthy man born in Lisbon into a Jewish family of Spanish origin. That he could have been the sitter is suggested by a contemporary document that places him in the duchess’s quarters in the Palazzo Vecchio at the time the portrait was made. Here we consider the possibility that Enrique was that sitter by examining several contemporary documents that refer to him, and by comparing his age, appearance

and dress with those of the sitter. On that basis we conclude that the probability that Enrique was the sitter is not small.