How does this artwork elucidate its Subject?
Both the names formerly given to this picture, Boccaccio and Alessandro de' Medici, are incorrect. The sitter is now thought to be Jacopo Sannazaro, a poet and humanist from Naples. This identification was first proposed by Georg Gronau in 1895, and is supported by an early copy of the painting (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) inscribed Sincerus Sannzarius ("Actius Sincerus" was a known alias of Sannazaro).
Georg Gronau Sannazaro Jacopo Sannazaro Alessandro de' Medici