This is the first known printed engraving-portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli, executed in the xylography technique (woodcut). It appeared in the first edition of his work Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius (Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio), published in November 1540 in Venice by the Aldine Press (Aldo Manuzio). The portrait is posthumous, placed on the title page, and depicts a profile in an octagonal frame with the inscription "NICCOLO MACCHIAVELLI" around the perimeter, against a hatched texture background. This image became the archetype for subsequent depictions of Machiavelli and reflects the iconographic traditions of the Italian Renaissance.