Work Bronzino

portrait of young man, c. 1550–55, london, national gallery

bronzino first received medici patronage in 1539, when 1 of many artists chosen execute elaborate decorations wedding of cosimo de medici eleonora di toledo, daughter of viceroy of naples. not long before became, , remained of career, official court painter of duke , court. portrait figures—often read static, elegant, , stylish exemplars of unemotional haughtiness , assurance—influenced course of european court portraiture century. these known paintings exist in many workshop versions , copies. in addition images of florentine elite, bronzino painted idealized portraits of poets dante (c. 1530, in washington, dc) , petrarch.

bronzino s best known works comprise aforementioned series of duke , duchess, cosimo , eleonora, , figures of court such bartolomeo panciatichi , wife lucrezia. these paintings, of duchess, known minute attention detail of costume, takes on personality of own in image @ right. here duchess pictured second son giovanni, died of malaria in 1562, along mother; sumptuous fabric of dress takes more space on canvas either of sitters. indeed, dress has been object of scholarly debate. elaborate gown has been rumored beloved duchess buried in it; when myth debunked, others suggested perhaps garment never existed @ , bronzino invented entire thing, perhaps working fabric swatch. in case, picture reproduced on , on bronzino , shop, becoming 1 of iconic images of duchess. version pictured here in uffizi gallery, , 1 of finest surviving examples.

bronzino s so-called allegorical portraits , such of genoese admiral, portrait of andrea doria neptune, less typical possibly more fascinating due peculiarity of placing publicly recognized personality in nude mythical figure. finally, in addition being painter, bronzino poet, , personal portraits perhaps of other literary figures such of friend poet laura battiferri.

religious subjects

the holy family infant saint john baptist (madonna stroganoff)

in 1540/41, bronzino began work on fresco decoration of chapel of eleanora di toledo in palazzo vecchio (at right) , oil on panel (at left) chapel. before painting style in religious genre less mannerist, , based in balanced compositions of high renaissance. yet became elegant , classicizing (cf. smyth) in fresco cycle, , religious works examples of mid-16th-century aesthetics of florentine court—traditionally interpreted highly stylized , non-personal or emotive. crossing red sea typical of bronzino s approach @ time, though should not claimed bronzino or court lacking in religious fervor on basis of preferred court fashion. indeed, duchess eleanora generous patron founded jesuit order.

bronzino s work tends include sophisticated references earlier painters, in 1 of last grand frescoes called martyrdom of st. lawrence (san lorenzo, 1569), in every 1 of extraordinarily contorted poses can traced raphael or michelangelo, whom bronzino idolized (cf. brock). bronzino s skill nude more enigmatically deployed in celebrated venus, cupid, folly , time, conveys strong feelings of eroticism under pretext of moralizing allegory. other major works include design of series of tapestries on story of joseph, palazzo vecchio.

many of bronzino s works still in florence other examples can found in national gallery, london, , elsewhere.