Sandro Botticelli
Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici
c. 1478-1480
Sandro Botticelli's portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (c. 1475–1480) was likely painted as a posthumous memorial to the young Medici prince, assassinated aged twenty-five in the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The sitter leans against a window frame, eyes half-closed in a melancholic near-slumber that already hints at death. The version held by the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo is one of several autograph and workshop replicas dispersed today across the NGA Washington, the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, and other collections.
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons