The identification of the character with cosimo iii (chiarini 1969) or with his son ferdinando (langedijk 1983) was not accepted by meloni (1985), who instead identified the portrait as the young alessandro farnese, son of margherita de' medici and odoardo farnese. The painting must in fact be identified with the one recorded in the 1692 inventory of the villa di poggio imperiale and described as a 'portrait of a little prince'. On the basis of this inventory indication, meloni excludes the possibility that it could be a member of the medici family, as it would have been identified with certainty by the authors of the aforementioned inventory. Meloni also linked this portrait with two others (preserved in the pitti deposits) depicting a brother and sister of alessandro farnese, ranuccio (inv. 1890, 2200) and maria maddalena (inv. 1890, 2208). Suttermans, as can be seen from documentary sources (meloni 1985 and goldenberg stoppato 1986), in fact executed the portraits of four of the eight children of margherita de' medici and odoardo farnese during their stay in parma, between the end of 1639 and 1640. The three portraits of the 'farnese children', of which the one in question is part, are therefore to be identified with those sent to florence by margherita de' medici to her brother ferdinando ii in 1640 (chiarini 2003). Date: 1640. Dimensions: height: 79 cm (31.1 in); width: 64 cm (25.1 in). Medium: oil. Collection: Palazzo Pitti. Justus Sustermans 053
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