Patronage, Lineage, and Self-Promotion in Maso da San Friano's Naples "Double Portrait"

Abstract

Florentine painter Tommaso Manzuoli's (called Maso da San Friano, 1531-71) 'Portrait of Two Men' (1556), held in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples, depicted an older and a younger man similarly dressed and coiffed discussing the ground plan of a basilica. The older man was Lorenzo D'Andrea di Martino di Piero di Pagno Pagni (d. ca. 1565), secretary to Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-74), called the Great, duke of Florence and first Grand Duke of Tuscany. The younger man was probably the elder's relative, perhaps the less well-known Zanobi di Lorenzo Pagni (d. 1591). The portrait seems to be asserting a mentoring relationship between the two men. This article justifies these identifications by biographical details and reference to other known portraits.