Cristofano dell'Altissimo (–1605) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

painter in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. For duke

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

he copied in

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

at least 280 of the portraits from the Collection of Paolo Giovio known as the

Giovio Series The Giovio Series, also known as the Giovio Collection or Giovio Portraits, is a series of 484 portraits assembled by the 16th-century Italian Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio. It includes portraits of literary figures, rulers, s ...

(484 in total). Most of them can be seen at the Uffizi Gallery in

Work

He was a pupil of

Pontormo Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound stylisti ...

and

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

. In July 1552 he was sent to

to copy the portraits of famous men in Paolo Giovio’s museum. By the end of May 1553 , Cristofano had sent 24 finished portraits to Florence, followed by 26 more by September 1554 and another 25 by October 1556. The following month Cristofano received 100 scudi from Cosimo. By 1591 the works had been transferred to the corridors of the Uffizi, where they form part of the museum’s large collection of portraits. During his stay in Como, Cristofano travelled to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

to execute two portraits of the Ippolita Gonzaga (1535–1563), the daughter of Ferrante Gonzaga, in competition with

Bernardino Campi Bernadino Campi (1522–1591) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cremona, who worked in Reggio Emilia. He is known as one of the teachers of Sofonisba Anguissola and of Giovanni Battista Trotti (il Malosso). In Cremona, his extended family o ...

, who was declared the winner. (One of the portraits went eventually to her father, Giuliano Groselino.) In November 1562 Cristofano was noted as treasurer of the

Accademia delle Arti del Disegno The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno ("Academy of the Arts of Drawing") is an academy of artists in Florence, in Italy. It was founded on 13 January 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. It was initially known as ...

in Florence, which received its official recognition in January 1563. On 18 January 1564

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

wrote to Angelo Riffoli, the ducal treasurer, requesting payment for ten portraits executed by Cristofano for Cosimo. On 5 April 1565 Vincenzo Borghini recommended Cristofano to Cosimo for employment in connection with the preparations for the marriage of Cosimo’s son Francesco (later

Francesco I de' Medici Francesco I (25 March 1541 – 19 October 1587) was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was a member of the House of Medici. Biography Born in Florence, Francesco was the son of Cosimo I de' Medi ...

, Grand Duke of Tuscany) to Joanna of Austria. On 22 February 1567 Cristofano enrolled in the Arte dei Medici e Speziali. Between 1587 and 1589 he sent another group of works to Florence from the Giovio museum. The following year he was back in Florence, and in 1596 his lawsuit against Donato Bandinelli, concerning a portrait and drawing depicting Francesco Ferrucci, was submitted to a tribunal of the Accademia.

Gallery

File:Cristofano dell'altissimo, saladino, ante 1568 - Serie Gioviana.jpg, Portrait of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

(1137-1193) File:Portrait of Ezzelino III da Romano (by Cristofano dell'Altissimo).jpg, Portrait of

Ezzelino III da Romano Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo, Veneto, Tombolo7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelini family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II, Holy Roman ...

(1194-1259) File:Cristofano dell’Altissimo, Portrait of Lebnä-Dengel. c. 1552-1568.jpg, Portrait of Lebnä-Dengel (1496-1540) File:MatteoPalmieri adj.JPG, Portrait of

Matteo Palmieri Matteo di Marco Palmieri (1406–1475) was a Florentine humanist and historian who is best known for his work ''Della vita civile'' ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528) which advocated civic humanism, and his influence in refining the Tuscan vernacu ...

(1406–1475) File:Pico1.jpg, Portrait of

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico dei conti della Mirandola e della Concordia ( ; ; ; 24 February 146317 November 1494), known as Pico della Mirandola, was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, ...

(1463–1494) File:Skanderbeg by Cristofano Dell'Altissimo.jpg, Portrait of

Skanderbeg Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanians, Albanian Albanian nobility, feudal lord and military commander who led Skanderbeg's rebellion, a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, ...

(1405-1468) File:Portrait of Shah Ismail I. Inscribed "Ismael Sophy Rex Pers". Painted by Cristofano dell'Altissimo, dated 1552-1568.jpg, Portrait of Shah Ismail I Safavi (1487-1524) File:Suleiman the Magnificent by Dell'Altissimo.jpg, Portrait of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

(1494–1566), after

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

File:Bayezid I by Cristofano dell'Altissimo.jpg, Portrait of Bayezid I (1360-1403) File:Pope_Alexander_Vi.jpg, Portrait of

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

(1431-1503)

Bibliography

* Aleci, Linda Kinger. "Images of Identity: Italian Portrait Collections of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries." "The Image of the Individual: Portraits in the Renaissance" Eds. Nicholas Mann and

Luke Syson Luke Syson is an English museum curator and art historian. Since 2019, he has been the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, prior to which he held positions at the British Museum (1991–2002), the Victoria and Albe ...

. London: British Museum Press, 1998. 67–79. * Campbell, Lorne. ''Renaissance Portraits: European Portrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. * Fossi, Gloria. ''Uffizi Gallery: Art, History, Collections''. Firenze: Firenze Musei, 2001. * Giovio, Paolo. ''An Italian Portrait Gallery''. Translated by Florence Alden Gragg. Boston: Chapman & Grimes, 1935. * Haskell, Francis. ''History and its Images: Art and the Interpretation of the Past''. Yale University Press. 1995. , * Müntz, Eugène. "Le Musée de portraits de Paul Jove. Contributions pour servir à l’iconographie du moyen âge et de la renaissance," ''Mémoires de l'Institut nationale de France, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'', Vol. 36, no. 2, 1900. 249–343. * Zimmermann, T. C. Price. ''Paolo Giovio: The Historian and the Crisis of Sixteenth-Century Italy''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dellaltissimo, Cristofano 1520s births 1605 deaths 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Painters from Florence Italian portrait painters