On August 27, 1569 Pope Pius V granted through a papal bubble Cosimo I de’Medici “Magnus dux Etruriae” first Grand Duke of Tuscany or rather of Etruria. The Grand Duke overlooks the new archaeological discoveries and is passionate about antiquities in particular to the Etruscans.
The great sculptor-Orafo Benvenuto Cellini was in charge of creating a work that represented all the magnificence of the first Grand Duke, a few years earlier or in 1541, a magnificent bronze statue of the Etruscan civilization was discovered at the church of S.Lorenzo in Arezzo. Probably the great artist in charge of giving an imperial face creates all this on imitation of the ancient in a very precise way, and it is precisely in imitation that the Roman armor is adapted, but the shape and the attitude is identical to a call and to a model that was considered Etruscan at the time ( Minerva state ).
And so that Cosimo I regrets the importance of supreme commander of the ancient pre -Roman population. The bust we see today preserved at the Bargello Museum was once located on the door of the fortress of Cosimo I in Portofferaio where it remained until 1781 when it was transported to the Uffizi at the behest of Leopoldo I, then passed to Bargello. Small details are the eyes that after a recent restoration resumed their natural color, that is, the silver that was hidden by a very compact dark layer, and the collar below the head of the jellyfish with the emblem of the order of the Toson D ‘Gold.
