Portrait of Alberto Pio

Alberto Pio, lord of Carpi in Emilia, was born in 1475 and was an accomplished scholar. He spent most of his life outside his own domains, though he was recorded in Carpi in 1512, the year apparently inscribed on the painting. He died in exile in 1531.

Inscriptions, damaged, in various areas of the picture, including one (now scarcely legible) on the black tunic: 'albertus pius carpensis mdxii'; that on the open book is from Virgil's 'Aeneid' (VI: 724-47) - the prophecy of the future glory of Rome.