Giovanni dalle Bande

The person represented here is Giovanni de Medici, father to. Cosimo I, who was later to become the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Giovanni de Medici was a mercenary captain (condottiere) in the guard of Pope Leo X, Upon the Pope's death in 1521 he ordered his soldiers to add black stripes to all his banners as a sign of mourning, thereby earning him the sobriquet 'Giovanni of the Black Bands.'