Portrait of the Condottiere Giacomo Attendolo, known as Muzio Attendolo Sforza (1369–1424) in profile,
inscribed upper left and right: SFORZA. DA CVTI./GNOLA.,
oil on panel, 61 x 46.5 cm, framed

Giacomo Attendolo, known as Giacomuzzo (Muzio) Attendolo, was one of the most famous military leaders of his time and founder of the important Sforza dynasty. He was born in 1369, in Cotignola in Emilia-Romagna to a rich family of rural nobility.

According to tradition, in 1382, young Muzio was ploughing a field when mercenaries passed nearby in search of recruits. He took one of his father’s horses and joined the soldiers. In 1398, Muzio was employed by the rulers of Milan, the Visconti, and soon left to fight, first for Florence, and then Ferrara. Due to his herculean strength, he was called ‘Sforza’ (The Strong), a nickname which was adopted by his descendants as a family surname. Muzio managed to acquire the lordship of Cotignola in 1411, later he became the first Count of Cotignola. Summoned to Naples in 1412 by King Ladislas, Muzio became Grand constable of the kingdom. After the death of Ladislas (1414), Muzio, during the stormy reign of Queen Giovanna II, he was at one moment presented with lands, offices, and honours and the next imprisoned and tortured. In 1424, sent by Queen Giovanna to fight against an old adversary, the condottiere Braccio da Montone, in the employ of King Alfonso V of Aragon, Muzio drowned while attempting to cross the Pescara River near L’Aquila in central Italy.

Muzio was married three times and had at least fifteen children. His eldest son, Francesco I (1401–1466), married Bianca Maria (1425–1468), daughter and only heir of the last Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, in 1441. Francesco thereby acquired the title of Duke of Milan (1450–1466) and ruled Milan for sixteen years, making the Sforza the heirs of the house of Visconti. The family also held the seigniory of Pesaro, beginning with Muzio’s second son, Alessandro (1409–1473). Muzio’s third son, Bosio (1411–1476), founded the branch of Santa Fiora, who held the title of count of Cotignola. Members of the family also held important ecclesiastical and political positions in the Papal States, and moved to Rome in 1674, taking the name of Sforza Cesarini.

In 1499, during the Italian Wars, the army of King Louis XII of France took Milan from Muzio’s grandson Ludovico Sforza (known as Ludovico il Moro, famous for taking Leonardo da Vinci into his service). After Imperial German troops drove the French out, Maximilian Sforza, son of Ludovico, became Duke of Milan (1512–1515) until the French returned under King Francis I of France and imprisoned him. In 1521 Emperor Charles V restored the younger son of Ludovico, Francesco II Sforza to the duchy. Francesco remained the ruler of Milan until his death in 1535 and as he was childless the duchy reverted to the Emperor, who passed it to his son Philip II in 1540, thereby beginning the period of Spanish rule in Milan.

Stylistically the present painting is closely related to the version that Cristofano dell’Altissimo painted for the Medici collection in Florence before 1568 (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, inv. 1890, no. 84). The idea of creating a collection of portraits of illustrious men, the so-called ‘Gioviana’, dated back to Grand Duke Cosimo I who sent the painter Cristofano dell’Altissimo to Como 1552 to copy the famous collection of portraits gathered by the bishop and writer Paolo Giovio. Cristofano dell’Altissimo reached Como in 1552. In 1568, in the Giuntina edition of the Vite, Vasari listed about 220 paintings (he mentions the one of Muzio Attendolo Sforza) already present in Palazzo Vecchio, in the so-called Sala del Mappamondo. When Francesco I came to power, Cosimo’s project seems to have been interrupted, and in fact documents only mention the execution of studio versions from the Florentine collection, for other Medici residences or as diplomatic gifts. The project instead resumed with Ferdinando I, who transferred the portrait collection to its current location, the corridor leading from the Uffizi galleries to Palazzo Pitti, between 1587 and 1591.

In the few portraits of the sixteenth century showing Muzio Attendolo, he wears the red and silver patterned doublet over a chain mail shirt and the red velvet hat arranged in rows. In the present painting the physiognomic characteristics of the sitter differ slightly from the Uffizi painting, and it does not appear to be a mere contemporary studio version, but an independent work. In fact, Muzio appears to be some years older in age, and the curved nose suggests that the painter used a different model, perhaps closer to the real appearance of Muzio, who had already died in 1424. Indeed, a curved nose was Muzi’´s most characteristic feature, apparent also in his portrait by Bernardino Luini, formerly in the Casa degli Atellani in Milan, today conserved in the Castello Sforzesco. Muzio’s appearance is similar in Ritratti Et Elogii di Capitani illvstri (G. Roscio et al., Rome 1646, p. 86) which would appear to have been based on the present painting.