Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder

Infobox Painting|

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title=Portrait of a Man with the Medal of Cosimo de Medici the Elder
artist=Sandro Botticelli
year=c. 1474-1475
type=Tempera on panel
height=57,5
width=44
city=Florence
museum=Uffizi

"Portrait of a Man with the Medal of Cosimo de Medici" is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, circa 1474-1475. It is housed in the Uffizi of Florence.

By the time Botticelli finished this portrait, the inspiration of Pollaiolo has become more precise, and through the vibration of the line, expresses a tense inquietude of spirit.

The picture of this unidentified young man is one of the most unusual portraits of the Early Renaissance. The man is gazing at the observer and holding up a medal bearing the profile of the head of Cosimo de' Medici, who died in 1464. Botticelli set the medal into the painting as a gilded plaster cast.

The painting is a half length portrait in front of an extensive light landscape with a river of Flemish manner, and the man's head projects above the horizon. The light, which falls on the subject from the left, clearly shapes his striking features, and there are stronger shadows on the side of his face closer to the observer. The poor drawing of his hands makes the experimental nature of this portrait more than clear. It is one of the earliest Italian portraits to make the hands a part of the portrait's theme.

It was a member of the family of the man on the medal was painted.

The commemorative medal of Cosimo dates from about 1465-1470 and has given rise to an entire series of suggestions concerning the identity of the man depicted. So far it has not been possible to give a definitive answer to the question whether this is a close relative or supporter of the Medicis (the paintings was part of the collection of Cardinal Carlo de Medici), or perhaps the man who created the medal, supposedly Antonio Botticelli, Sandro's brother who worked as goldsmith and medal-maker for the Medici. Other scholars suggested even the subject being the same Sandro, as it is rather similar to the self-portrait present in the "Birth of Christ" in Santa Maria Novella.