Resumen de Un ritrovato ritratto di imperatore di Francesco Salviati per Alfonso d'Avalos
The rediscovery of a portrait confidently attributable to Francesco Salviati, with the features of Emperor Marcus Aurelius -as indicated by parallels in ancient statuary- makes it possible to reconstruct a project known only through two letters of 1540 from Paolo Giovio to Pietro Aretino and Salvati. Giovio wrote to Aretino asking him to inform Salviati that he had found him a commission to portray twelve men of antiquity for Alfonso d'Avalos, Governor of Milan. Salviati would then have taken up employment with the latter to carry out this series inspired by the twelve canvases of Roman emperors which Titian was painting at the time for the Duke of Mantua. In the event Salviati never moved to Milan, preferring to return from Venice to Rome, but given its subject, this canvas may well be the prototype of the series of works mentioned in Giovio's correpondence.
