In his Lives of the Artists Vasari briefly mentions that many portraits by him could still be seen in Florentine homes, probably produced before Rosso left for Volterra in 1521 - this work is thought to be one of them. Its attribution was uncertain until 2006, when Antonio Natali identified it as an early autograph work by Rosso.[3]
Subject
In the early 1900s it was thought to be a self-portrait of Rosso, but other sources argue that it instead shows Iacopo V Appiani, sovereign of Piombino, and is linked to Rosso's long stay in the city-state of Piombino in 1516–1520, during which he produced a Dead Christ.[4]