Ritratto di Federico da Montefeltro con il figlio Guidobaldo

Federico da Montefeltro ran Urbino as a hired soldier, one of the most successful commanders in 15th-century Italy, and he spent the fortune he earned on books and scholars. This portrait, from around 1470, shows him doing both jobs at once. He sits in full armour with a jewelled robe thrown over it, reading a heavy manuscript, while his small son Guidobaldo stands at his knee holding a commander's baton. Federico had lost his right eye and the bridge of his nose in a tournament, which is why painters always turned him to show the left side of his face. The pearl-set mitre on the shelf behind him was a personal gift from the Ottoman sultan.