Bindo Altoviti (1491-1556) was a powerful banker to the papacy, a patron of the arts, and, at the end of his life, a major opponent of the Medici family who ruled Florence. He divided his time between Florence, where his family was from (and where his wife and children lived), and Rome, where his business was based. At the age of 16 he inherited his father's bank: by shrewd financial and political dealings, he amassed one of the largest fortunes in Italy.
Bindo was a friend of many important Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo, Cellini, Raphael, and Vasari. When he was 20, Raphael painted his portrait; at 58 he turned to Cellini for a portrait in bronze. Giorgio Vasari painted frescoes in Bindo's Roman residences, as well as an altarpiece for the family church in Florence.

In contrast to Raphael's early portrait is the monumental bronze bust, Portrait of Bindo Altoviti by Benvenuto Cellini (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1549). Cellini's portrayal of Altoviti shows the banker in middle-age, at the height of his power, and as a more mature, contemplative figure. This bronze is remarkable in its portrayal of the banker as a humanist, devoted to worldly affairs. This bust is the only certain sculpture by Cellini in the United States. Recently discovered documents date the work to 1549.

Cellini created just one other monumental bronze bust, Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, ca. 1545-48) depicting Altoviti's great rival, Duke Cosimo de' Medici. Quite different from the private, humanistic portrayal of Bindo Altoviti, the Cosimo de' Medici is a public and militaristic figure, aggressive and almost overwhelming in its grandeur. This contrast implies a great deal about Altoviti's standing in Renaissance society and politics and provides interesting insight into this political rivalry.

Bindo Altoviti was born in Rome into a prominent Florentine family. His father had set up a bank in Rome, but he died in 1507, leaving the 16-year-old Bindo as head of the family business. In 1511, Bindo married Fiammetta Soderini, uniting him with one of the most politically powerful families in Florence. Her uncle was ruler of the Republic of Florence, although in 512 he was exiled by the Medici.

Bindo's bank in Rome made its money principally by lending money to the pope, who headed a vast bureaucracy that administered not only the Church, but also Rome and the Papal States in Italy. Bindo Altoviti's influence grew steadily in the 1530s, reaching its pinnacle under Pope Paul III, when he controlled both the papal checkbook, and the supply of grain to the city of Rome.

As a banker, Bindo had remained politically neutral throughout complex changes in political leadership in Rome and Florence. However, at the end of his life he turned against Cosimo de' Medici, duke of Florence, and financed an army to re-establish republican rule there. This effort ended in defeat in 1554. Bindo was declared a rebel, and all his property in Tuscany was confiscated. He died in 1556, without having attained his ambition of removing the Medici from power.