"The elegance and discretion of the dress, the intense but simple and natural presence of the model make this image of Castiglione, a friend of the artist and author of The Courtier (published 1528), the prime portrait of the accomplished gentleman and perfect courtier described in the book. This painting was probably executed in Rome in 1514–1515, on the occasion of Castiglione's appointment as ambassador to the pope by the Duke of Urbino."
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/portrait-baldassare-castiglione-1478-1529
Baldassare Castiglione was easily one of the most influential writers and courtly figures of Renaissance Italy, writing and publishing his views on the courtly life in his Il Lobro de Cortegiano (The Book of the Courtier).
Born in 1478 near Mantua, Castiglione was part of a wealthy family with connections to the ruling elite. Thus, he was well acquainted to the feasting life of a courtesan. Beginning his secular education in Milan in 1490 at age twelve, young Castiglione discovered his courtier identity.
"Castiglione was born in 1478 of a good family. His manhood was spent in the field or at Court; and the happiest days of his life were passed with Guidobaldo Duke of Urbino (1504-08), whom he served in many diplomatic missions, one of which brought him to England. His book in reality describes the Court of Urbino, and the persons in it, to the life." (The Book of the Courtier, ix).
One of the key moments in the development of young Castiglione was witnessing the death of his father, Cristoforo. A cavalry commander at the Battle of Fornovo (July 6, 1495), the elder Castiglione was severely wounded and had to be extracted from the fighting. The battle itself was a fiasco for both sides; while the Italian forces were able to stop the French troops of Charles VIII from advancing beyond the Taro River, they could not stop them from retreating in good order (Santosuosso, Anatomy of Defeat).
Cristoforo was taken to one of the family villas in Castacio on July 10, where Baldassare was staying on a vacation from his studies in Milan. Four years later (March 8 1499), the elder Castiglione finally succumbed to wound-induced fevers, an event that changed his son Baldassare irrevocably, in that his bereavement affected his worldviews and later writings, and that he now needed to leave his fruitful studies and assume the head of his household.
Death would follow Baldassare throughout his life, often finding him losing loved ones prematurely. Likely the most devastating to the grown Castiglione was that of his young wife Ippolita Torelli (married October 19 1516), with whom he had his four children (Camillo, 3 August 1517; Anna, 17 July 1518; Ippolita, 14 August 1520). She died post-childbirth on (25 August, 1520), at the age of twenty. This event, taking place mere months after the untimely death of his friend Raffael, devastated Castiglione.
