(Florence 1495–1554)
Portrait of Lodovico Martelli (1503–1531), three-quarter length,
inscribed on the cartouche, lower left: Ludovicus Martellius / Poeta,
oil on panel, 96.5 x 74.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly Palazzo Strozzi, Florence (according to literature);
Torrigiani collection, Florence (according to Fototeca Zeri);
Vitetti collection, Rome, since about 1957 (according to Fototeca Zeri);
sale, Sotheby’s, Florence, 29 September 1983, lot 212 (as Tommaso di Stefano Lunetti);
Vitetti collection, Rome;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
F. M. Clapp, Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo: his life and work, New Haven 1916, p. 202, not illustrated (as a replica);
P. Costamagna, Pontormo, Milan 1994, p. 289, cat. no. A. 43.1, not illustrated (as a replica)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri, under no. 35891 (as Anonimo fiorentino del XVI secolo).

We are grateful to Philippe Costamagna for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting relates to the portrait by Pontormo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (oil on panel, 87 x 73 cm). According to Costamagna, it is perhaps the work cited by Clapp which was once in Palazzo Strozzi (see literature).

Lodovico Martelli’s introspective features are analysed for their thoughtful appearance by Jacone, whose pictorial manner conforms to the hard, luminous renderings typical of Florentine sixteenth century aristocratic portraiture. The panel is entirely occupied by the figure, not conforming to the more traditional half-bust format, but instead, extended to include the hands and body of the subject to the waist, as in the comparable Jacone’s Portrait of a Young Woman in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. no. 0900194015).

In addition to the inscription on the cartouche, which is absent in the work by Pontormo, the presence of the laurel branch, of various papers, a pen and an ink-well – all symbols of the art of poetry – converge to confirm the identity of the sitter. Lodovico Martelli was from a noble family cast in opposition to the Medici. He lived his final years in exile as guest of Alfonso d’Avalos, but he died a captive of the Genoese aged only twenty-eight in 1531. A cultured scholar, amongst other things, he wrote poetry and contributed to the philological dispute on the Italian language with his Discorso sulla lingua. According to Costamagna, it can be assumed that the portrait by Pontormo in Palazzo Vecchio was executed post-mortem soon after 1531.

There was also a portrait of Lodovico Martelli in the famous series of Portraits of Illustrious Men formed by Paolo Giovio (circa 1483–1552) for his collection at Villa Museaeum on Lake Como. A replica of this was made in circa 1552 by Cristofano dell’Altissimo who was sent by Cosimo I de Medici to copy the collection of portraits, to be sent back to Florence, which is now preserved in the Uffizi (inv. no. 0900294039).

Jacone was among the most inventive artists to train in the studio of Andrea del Sarto, (which was also frequented by Pontormo), and he remained there until the master’s death in 1530. Although his identity as an artist is less well defined than that of some of his contemporaries, Jacone was well known to Giorgio Vasari who described his dissolute life style, as well as his fantastic graphic skill in detail (Le Vite de’ più eccellenti Pittori Scultori ed Architettori, vol. VI, ed. by G. Milanesi, Florence 1881, pp. 450-51). According to Vasari, Jacone visited Rome around 1523 or 1524. His works are somewhat rare and he seems to have a strong affinity for the mannerist vision of Pontormo, who supervised the team of painters, including Jacone, that decorated the loggia of the Villa Medici at Careggi in 1536.