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The twenty-five-year old Ottaviano de' Medici, on behalf of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici and his cousin Pope Leo X, commissioned Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio and Pontormo for decorations celebrating the pope's father, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and other family members inside the family's villa at Poggio a Caiano. The iconographical programme, designed by the historian Paolo Giovio, aimed to evoke the celebrations of the Medici house through a series of episodes drawn from Roman history.
Work in the Salone was halted with the death of Leo X in December 1521. Pontormo was the only one to have finished his lunette fresco, frescoes by Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto on the long walls were partially incomplete. The decoration was completed by Alessandro Allori in 1578-82, a commission of Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici.
The Return of Cicero to Rome by Franciabigio is on one of the long walls of the Salone. The young man, who is being raised up by a group of men excitedly gesturing, is Cicero being borne to the Capitol in triumph by Romans on his return from exile. This scene is an allusion to the exile and return of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder.
The strip with the obelisk and rostral column as well as the statue of the river god Tiber and the group of four figures in the right foreground were added later by Alessandro Allori.
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