Portrait of Francesco I de' Medici

First son of Cosimo I dei Medici and Eleonora di Toledo, Francesco (Florence 1541-1587) succeeded his father to the throne in 1574 and became the second Grand Duke of Tuscany. Executed in 1551 with the portraits of his sister Maria and his young brother Giovanni, the picture shows Francesco approximately at the age of ten, keeping a letter and dressed as a noble child.