Jacopo Pontormo’s “Portrait of Alessandro de’ Medici” was painted in 1534 and is currently in the Art Institute of Chicago. It served as a study which Pontormo and other artists could use when painting larger, more elaborate works. Alessandro was the first duke of Florence and most likely the illegitimate son of Pope Clement VII and an African slave in the service of the pope. Alessandro was known as “il Moro” (“the Moor”) because of his dark complexion, and his tyrannical reign ended with his assassination in 1337. Buona visione!