Franciabigio, Portrait of Jacopo Cennini, 1523. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015.

LONDON.- Painted nearly 500 years before the emergence of the modern-day 'celebrity gardener', a 16th-century portrait in the Royal Collection has been found to be the earliest surviving portrait of a gardener. The painting is of Jacopo Cennini, factor and estate manager to the powerful House of Medici, the prominent banking family and hereditary dukes of the Republic of Florence. It is among 150 works of art from the Royal Collection going on display in Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden from 20 March at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. 

Commissioned by the Medici family and painted by the Florentine artist Franciabigio in 1523, the half-length portrait is a particularly early representation of a sitter of modest social standing. It marks the emergence of the professional gardener from anonymity and distinguishes Cennini from the many shadowy figures known only from contemporary accounts and record books. Incorporating the Medici coat of arms, the portrait shows Cennini writing in his ledger with a number of billhooks or pruning knives – the trademark of his profession – hanging prominently behind him. A set of keys rest over his arm and indicates his status as a trusted servant. 

The portrait hints at the importance attached to Jacopo Cennini's role by his patron, Pierfrancesco di Lorenzo de' Medici (1487–1525), who was himself more absorbed in the running of his estates than in Florentine public life and politics. By the 16th century interest in the business of gardening was increasing, prompted in part by the wealth of new inexpensive manuals that instructed a broader public in the skills of horticulture. Garden 'designers' as we know them today had not yet emerged. Instead it was Cennini as the estate manager who was responsible for the planning and execution of the layouts of the Medici pleasure gardens in the Fiesole estate, including the vineyard, olive grove and quarry. 

Exhibition curator, Vanessa Remington of Royal Collection Trust said, 'Research for the exhibition has revealed that this painting is the first portrait of a professional gardener. Jacopo Cennini stands at the head of a long tradition of distinguished gardeners through the centuries, culminating in those of our own age, and we are delighted to be able to tell his story at The Queen's Gallery.' 

Opening at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on Friday, 20 March, Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden explores the many ways in which the garden has been celebrated in art over 400 years. Including paintings, drawings, books, manuscripts and decorative arts, the exhibition will reveal the changing character of the garden and its enduring appeal for artists from the 16th to the early 20th century.