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In 1545 Cellini began work on an over life-size bronze portrait bust of Cosimo I modelled from life. By October 1547 it had been cast, but the chasing and gilding were not completed before February 1548. The bust, which depicts the Duke in elaborately modelled Roman armour, is of superb workmanship. Cellini was vying with works from antiquity as well as with his principal rival in Florence, Bandinelli, but above all he sought to capture the disquieting personality of the sitter.
The Duke, who viewed official portraits in terms of stereotypes, was incapable of appreciating the intimate, nervous image of himself that Cellini had created: the bust was kept in his private apartments until in 1557 it was sent to Portoferraio on the island of Elba. It was tranferred to the Bargello in 1781.
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