Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Gaddi
by CONTE, Jacopino del, Oil on canvas, 111 x 94 cm
The sitter of this portrait, Cardinal Niccolò Gaddi (1537-1591), belonged to the Gaddi family which had occupied a major role in Florentine political life for a long while. He is notable as an art collector and advisor to the Medici art collections.
This portrait depicts an architectural background in the left, with light falling through a window. The cardinal holds gloves in one hand.
Jacopino’s latest works, such as the Portrait of a Cardinal Niccolò Gaddi, are characterized by a formal severity and cold directness favoured in Roman Counter-Reformation circles,