_Piero di Cosimo_ (Florentine: 1462-1521). _See 698._
Francesco Ferruccio, of whom this is said to be a portrait, was the
Florentine general whose skill and patriotism shed a lustre on the
final struggle of Florence against the combined forces of the Pope and
the Emperor. He was then in command of the outlying possessions of
Florence, and had there been a second Ferruccio within the city itself
the fortune of war might have been different. Francesco was killed in
a battle near Pistoia on August 3, 1530. In the background of this
portrait there is a view of the Piazza della Signoria at Florence; and
at the entrance door Michael Angelo's statue of David, which was placed
there in 1504. The picture was formerly ascribed to Lorenzo Costa;
the recognition of its true authorship is due to Dr. Richter and Dr.
G. Frizzoni. The identification of the warrior with the celebrated
general is considered doubtful by them (see Richter's _Italian Art
in the National Gallery_, p. 36; and Frizzoni's _Arte Italiana del
Rinascimento_, p. 252).