The Cosimo l de' Medici bust

[img index="0" params="format=mh&class=image-l"[/img]When Camerini had the main door of]Forte Stella built, he prepared a a special place to put a very important bronze bust of the founder of Portoferraio  Cosimo l de' Medici, as a clear sign of the devotion he felt towards his city.

The bust of Cosimo was completed in the spring of 1548 in Florence by Benvenuto Cellini and listed in the archives of the Duke in 1553 as a bust "scolpito in bronzo e tocco d'oro with reference to the gold plating it had.

Cosimo de' Medici assigned Camerini the architect, who spoke of the bronze bust as being twice Cosimo's natural size down to his belt, to take it to Portoferraio. The bust was put in the niche by the entrance door in Forte Stella on November 15th 1557 where it remained until May 2nd 1781, day when Leopoldo l had it sent to the Uffizi.

The sculpture of the duke is like an Imperial painting with his head slightly turned to give him a lordly and noble expression. From a stylish point of view, the sculpture shows extreme precision in technical details; infact you cant help but notice the precision used by Cellini in the allegorical and heraldic details in his suit of armour and above all the emblem of the Golden Fleece.

Interesting information: Before the foundation of the Order of Santo Stefano, Cosimo l had been granted, in 1546, the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece, whose name comes from the mythical golden fleece that was the reason for the Argonaut expedition in Greek mythology, was a dynastic order based on the model of the English Giarettiera one, but dedicated to Saint Andrew, founded in Bourgogne by Philip lll, know as The Good Man.

Today the bust is kept in the Palazzo del Bargello, in Florence.