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This engraving is from the book Les vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustrés (True Portraits and Lives of Illustrious Men), published in Paris in 1584. André Thevet's book of 1.392 pages contains engraved portraits and biographies of figures from ancient times to his own period. This was the French response to the luxurious edition of Paolo Giovio's Elogia of military figures, published in Basel 1575.
The present portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici, published ten years after the duke's death, shows him with the grand-ducal crown on the table and the cross of the Order of Santo Stefano on his necklace. The objects on the table refer to Cosimo's patronage of the arts and learning.
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