An engraving of François I, King of France. Half length with curled hair, beard, plumed cap, the Order of St Michael, and slashed doublet. Within an oval border bearing Latin inscription, with French verses below. This print is lettered around the portrait: "FRANCOYS, I DV NOM. ROY DE FRANCE."; at the lower centre: L'Italle creint Encor, o Grand Roy tés Alarmes: ... / Grand Pere, et Grand Suport, des Lettres, et des Armes."; along the bottom: "Thomas de Leu. Fe: et excudit."

This is the first of ten prints, distributed throughout Cassiano's 'Kings of France' album, all have the same format though with slightly different frames and lettering (see RCINs 616560-616632-616586-618290-616612-615758-615538-670035-615750). Andrée Jouan has suggested that they are part of a suite of 12 portraits executed in 1587–8. None of the prints are dated; three of the prints fall beyond this range, suggesting that de Leu continued to produce portraits using this format beyond the initial group.

The print formed part of an album of French royal portrait prints assembled by Cassiano dal Pozzo in Rome and described in an early nineteenth-century inventory of prints in George III's library as Kings of France, Queens and other illustrious Personages. The album was arranged chronologically, with kings and their consorts together, while the latter part of the album was devoted to the female aristocracy of France. It was dismantled later in the nineteenth century and its prints incorporated into the series of Engraved Royal Portraits (organised dynastically).

For more information see Mark McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. I: Ceremonies, Costumes, Portraits and Genre, 3 vols, Royal Collection Trust 2017, part of The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo: A Catalogue Raisonné, cat. no. 1225.