Portrait of a Young Man

Botticelli painted this portrait in a three quarter view like a silhouette against a pale blue sky. The young man, who is looking very slightly down towards the observer, is wearing a red jerkin and the characteristic headgear of the Florentine Quattrocento, the mazzocchio. The hat band which is casually draped across his shoulder provides an artistic frame for the young man’s face.

The sitter of the portrait is probably Gianlorenzo de’ Medici, and it could very well be Botticelli’s first commissioned work, and from the hair and the clothes, the portrait must date from no later than 1469.