Isabella de Médici (1542-1576)

This is Isabella de' Medici as a child of about ten, daughter of Cosimo the First, the duke who ran Florence. She grew up clever and admired, and died at 34. For centuries the story was that her husband had her strangled, which made her a favourite of lurid history, though modern scholars now treat that murder tale with caution. But all of that is ahead of the girl here. The portrait has had a hard life of its own. The lower half is badly damaged, and an old restoration once repainted much of the hair and background before a later cleaning stripped it back. Experts still disagree whether this is Bronzino's own work, the court portraitist to the Medici, or his busy workshop copying a lost original. It stays prized for one plain reason: it is the only known likeness of Isabella as a child.