Raphael, Giuliano de' Medici, 16th Century

Giuliano de' Medici did not deserve to die. A learned scholar, champion jouster, and of modest countenance, he proved little competition to the Duke of Urbino - the mastermind behind the plot to have him killed. Lorenzo de' Medici was the intended target. He was the consummate politician, the one amassing allies dangerous to the Italian condottiere. Giuliano became helpless collateral.

Raphael's portrait of Giuliano embodies his temperament perfectly. The slender twenty-five-year-old is shown in his natural habitat - indoors, reading a note written to him perhaps by Simonetta Cantaneo, a married woman who matched Giuliano intellectually and - some speculate - romantically.

However, Giuliano comes across as delicate and sheltered in this portrait. The curtain is only slightly pulled back from the window, not letting in much of the outside world and definitely not supplying a light source. Because of the diffused indoor light, Giuliano looks fair to the point of pale, perhaps betraying his famous sensitive stomach. On the day he was killed, he woke up with a stomach ache.

Giuliano de' Medici was the gentler side of Lorenzo, revolted by politics and entranced by history and literature. Raphael captures this uncertain, wistful soul. Because the date cannot be determined exactly, some scholars believe this painting was completed after his death. If that's true, more emotions than just resigned introversion lie in those eyes.