Focus on Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune and discuss the Creation and provenance.
Bronzino's so-called "allegorical portraits", such as this Genoese admiral, are not representative of his art, or of contemporary portrait painting in general, but are possibly more captivating due to the eccentricity of depicting a publicly recognized personality as a nude mythical figure. In painting Doria, he may have been inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's 1503 sketch of Poseidon and his horses.The painting was commissioned for Paolo Giovio, bishop and retired papal physician, who lived near Como, and was perhaps completed around 1530. Giovo developed a "Museum of Famous Men" of commissioned portraits.   Contemporary prints of the work provide documentary evidence for how it originally looked.  There is a second version in the Villa Doria in Genoa, where Doria holds an oar rather than a trident; this seems to have been the original intention in the Milan painting.
Genoa Milan trident sketch of Poseidon and his horses admiral oar Villa Doria Como Leonardo da Vinci Bronzino Paolo Giovio