"Delivery is a form of speech... a kind of physical eloquence."
⁓ Quintilian, The Orator's Education
This commanding figure is Anton Francesco degli Albizzi (1486-1537), a key figure in the foundation and support of the Medicean rule of the Florentine Republic in 1512. In reality, he was as imposing and domineering as his portrait suggests.
Anton Francesco’s diplomatic reputation continued to follow him even after this portrait was painted. In 1527 he was sent as an ‘orator of the Republic’ to meet with the French king, Francis I, to help organise an invasion of the Kingdom of Naples.
His diplomatic qualities were winsome enough to garner the cooperation of the French forces and to broker cooperation from his friend Andrea Doria, whose own Republic of Genoa was now independent from the French. The result was the signing of a covenant agreement in 1528.
His rhetorical posture, his gesturing, intense gaze and noble dress hark back to the authorial presence of ancient sculptures of orators and emperors in their togas. This 1stcentury AD statue of the emperor Tiberius is a fitting visual comparison. Persuasive body language lends the figure authority and gravitas, essential components of a convincing speech according to ancient instruction.
"The head... serves not merely to produce graceful effect, but to illustrate our meaning as well... maintaining harmony with gesture and following the movement of the hands..."
