Resumen de Le Portrait de Clément VII par Sebastiano del Piombo du J. Paul Getty Museum
A new argument on the provenance of Sebastiano del Piombo's Portrait of Clement VII on slate (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). until now, the painting has been identified with one mentioned by Del Piombo in a letter to Michelangelo dated July 22, 1531. However, the work mentioned in the letter should be identified with the Head of Clement VII that is today in the Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. The Getty portrait can be identified with the one on slate sent to Catherine de' Medici after Del Piombo's death in 1547, and which was last documented in Fontainebleau in 1692 before disappearing in the 18th century. The Getty portrait was most likely bought in Paris by Robert Henry, Earl of Pembroke, at the beginning of the 19th century and could well have been the one owned by Catherine de' Medici.
