Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici in full armor, his left hand resting on a staff

Cosimo is presented as an imperial Roman figure, wearing antique armor that bears the ram of Augustus at the waist and on the helmet and the eagle of Camillus on the torso. Also adorning the armor are symbols of contemporary Florence such as Hercules, whose labors are depicted on the leg plates and whose lion pelt forms the standard, and the heraldic lion known as the Marzocco, found at the waist and topping the standard. This conflation of Medici, civic, and imperial imagery cements Cosimo’s image as absolute ruler of Florence.

Credit: Gift of M. Feltenstein, 2013