Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi

A seated Pope Leo X, dressed in red velvet and white fur, looks away from an open Bible he has been studying with a handheld magnifying glass. To his left stands Cardinal Giulio de' Medici and to his right Cardinal Luigi de' Rossi, both appearing from a dark, shadowed background. The foreground features a table covered in red cloth holding a highly detailed silver bell and a richly decorated medieval book.

As the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Leo X was a primary patron of the Renaissance humanism that sought to synthesize Christian doctrine with the Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions. This portrait emphasizes the ideal of the 'learned Pope' whose court was the center for the continued study of the prisca theologia and classical wisdom.