Toto, Anthony (1499–1554), artist, was the son of the Florentine artist Toto del Nunziata, whom Vasari described as a 'dipintore di fantocci', as a maker of fireworks, and as a practical joker. In Florence Toto was a pupil of the painter Ridolfo Ghirlandaio at the same time as Perino del Vaga. With his master he painted an altarpiece of the Virgin and child with two saints in San Piero Scheraggio, while in friendly competition with del Vaga he painted a figure on the triumphal arch erected for the entry of Pope Leo X into Florence in 1515. In 1519 he was engaged by the sculptor Pietro Torrigiano to come to England and work on a projected tomb for Henry VIII and his queen.

Although this tomb was never executed Toto entered the service of the king as a painter, and his name subsequently appears in the account books of the royal household in conjunction with that of another Florentine painter, Bartolommeo Penni. Vasari states that Toto executed numerous works for the king of England, some of which were in architecture. In particular he refers to Toto's work on the 'principal palace' of Henry VIII (probably Nonesuch Palace, near Cheam in Surrey). In 1530 Toto painted nine religious pictures for the library and the king's closet of Hampton Court Palace, and in the same year he also painted and gilded four antique heads brought from Greenwich to ‘Hanworthe’. Two years later he was paid with ‘John de la Mayn’ (perhaps Giovanni da Maiano) for work on 'certen antique hedes'. From at least 1536–7 Toto lived in the parish of St Bride, Fleet Street, London, and in the latter year he executed a heraldic painting for the funeral of Jane Seymour.

Toto was married twice, first to Ellen, and then to Katherine. Presumably with his first wife he had three children, Anthony (also a painter), Ellen (who married the painter Lewes Williams), and Winifred (who married Sir Charles Calthrope, attorney-general for Ireland). Toto received letters of naturalization and free denization in June 1538, in which year he and his first wife also received a grant of two cottages at Mitcham in Surrey as well as the lease of the manor of Ravensbury.

In 1540 Toto received payment from Henry VIII for 'a table of the story of King Alexander' and for a 'table of Calomia' (probably a 'Calumny of Apelles'). In 1541 he received a licence to export 600 tons of beer which he later sold on. Toto is perhaps the 'Mr. Anthony, the kynge's servaunte of Grenwiche', bequeathed 10 pounds in the will of Hans Holbein in 1543. In 1544 he succeeded Andrew Wright as the king's serjeant-painter and he also became a member of the king's privy chamber. In the same year he produced heraldry and other decorations for Sir Thomas Cawarden, master of the king's tents. The document that records this commission carries the only known example of Toto's signature and, on the reverse, a drawing of a prancing horse presumably, although not certainly, by the artist. In 1547 Toto worked on the decorations for the funeral of Henry VIII as well as those for the coronation of Edward VI, during whose reign he worked on costumes and settings for revels at court. Ultimately he also designed decorations for Edward's funeral. As a new year's gift in 1552 Toto presented Edward VI with a portrait of a duke, 'steyned upon cloth of silver' (Auerbach, 66–7). In 1551 he and John Leades supervised two teams of painters who erected a temporary banqueting house in Hyde Park for the reception of a French embassy. Toto died intestate before 1 November 1554 and the following year the crown paid his widow, Katherine, outstanding debts for the painting of ships.

Anthony Toto was the most prominent of a number of Italian artists who worked at the English court during the sixteenth century, nearly all of whom showed extreme versatility in the range of commissions they were willing to undertake. The artist's career demonstrates this quality, encompassing work on sepulchral monuments, the design of architecture, religious and secular painting on both walls and independent supports, and the decoration of sculpture, as well as the design of revel and funeral decoration.