A pupil under Jacopo da Pontormo (1494-1556) until the latter's death; Naldini subsequently moved to Rome around 1560, but soon returned to Florence where he worked principally for the Medici as one of the many artists under the supervision of Vasari (1511-1574). Among his commissions were the decorations for the obsequies of Michelangelo in 1564, and the following year for the marriage of Francesco I de' Medici to Joan of Austria. Naldini also assisted Vasari with the decoration of the studiolo and Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. However, this partnership ended when in 1571 Naldini refused Vasari's invitation to work in Rome. He did, however, return to Rome in the late 1570s to carry out, together with Giovanni Balducci (c. 1560-after 1631), the frescoes of the Life of St. John the Baptist (1577-1580) in the Altoviti Chapel, S. Trinita dei Monti. Again with Balducci, he worked in 1590 on the Presentation of the Virgin in Volterra cathedral (Turner, N.: From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Art Services International-Museo Nacional del Prado, 2008, p. 128).