Tommaso dei Cavalieri

Tommaso dei Cavalieri (—1587) was an Italian nobleman, who was the object of the greatest expression of Michelangelo's love. Michelangelo was 57 years old when he met Cavalieri in 1532. The young noble was exceptionally handsome, and his appearance seems to have fit the artist's notions of ideal masculine beauty, for Michelangelo described him as "light of our century, paragon of all the world". The two men remained close to each other throughout their lives and Cavalieri was present at the artist's death. Biography Tommaso dei Cavalieri was the son of Cassandra Bonaventura and Mario de' Cavalieri. Cavalieri was born between 1512 and 1519, but the exact date of his birth is unknown. In an official document translated by Gerda Panofsky-Soergel, mention is made that Cavalieri paid the stipend for the Mass in the memory of his brother Emilio on 6 September 1536. This is the only document that mentions the age of Cavalieri and her translation states "he is older than 16, but younger than 25". Warren Kirkendale, in his book Emilio de' Cavalieri "Gentiluomo Romano", corrects Panofsky-Soergel's reading of the document and instead translates it to read that Cavalieri was "no more than 16", putting his birth likely in 1520 and meaning he was "but a boy of twelve" when he met Michelangelo. Cavalieri's parents married in November 1509 and before Tommaso was born they had one son, Emilio. After the deaths of his father in 1524, and his older brother, Emilio, in 1536, Tommaso became the official head of the Cavalieri household. His first position in Roman government was caporione of his neighborhood of Sant'Eustachio, which he took in 1539. It was noted that compared to his peers, Cavalieri did not participate in civic government extensively although he would serve in this position five times (in 1539, 1542, 1546, 1558, and 1562). Twice (in 1564 and 1571) he occupied the post of Conservatore, the highest-ranking office a Roman citizen could occupy. Cavalieri married Lavinia della Valle in 1544 in Rome. Lavinia had been born sometime between 1527 and 1530. She was a daughter of Giulia Caffarelli and Lorenzo Stefano della Valle and she was a cousin of Cardinal Andrea della Valle. The marriage of Tommaso and Lavinia was the continuation of a longstanding tradition of marriages between Cavalieri and della Valle family members. They had been related by marriage at least since the fifteenth century.