Portrait of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy

When this portrait was made, Emmanuel Philibert had only just won his country back. For more than 20 years France had occupied most of Savoy and Piedmont, while he made his name as a general in the service of the Habsburgs. The peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559 returned most of his lands, the French handed back Turin at the end of 1562, and in 1563 he moved his capital there from Chambéry, on the far side of the Alps. Giacomo Vighi, called l'Argenta, had entered his service in 1561, and the gallery dates this full-length portrait to between 1561 and 1563. The duke stands in armour with a commander's baton, and along the lower edge runs his nickname, Testa di ferro, Iron Head. The date is debated. The art historian Cecilia Vicentini places the Turin canvas around 1570, while a version signed and dated 1563 has come to light in a private collection.