This painting probably dates from the artist’s stay in Florence where he was working for the Medici family. As in the Portrait of a Boy, the painting has all the newly fashionable informality which is such a characteristic of official portraiture of the period.  Even though the sitter is not lavishly dressed, he is likely to have been of high rank in Florence. When sold in 1917, the painting was already attributed to Salviati himself, but at the time of the Colnaghi exhibition in 1982, it was considered to be by Maso da San Friano (1536-1571).

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