Bronzino

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
Branzino
.
Bronzino
Portrait of Bronzino
Born
Agnolo di Cosimo

17 November 1503
Florence, Republic of Florence
DiedNovember 23, 1572(1572-11-23) (aged 69)
Florence, Duchy of Florence
NationalityItalian
Known forPainting
MovementMannerism
Signature

Agnolo di Cosimo (Italian: [ˈaɲɲolo di ˈkɔːzimo]; 17 November 1503 – 23 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino (Italian: Il Bronzino [il bronˈdziːno]) or Agnolo Bronzino,[a] was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, Bronzino, may refer to his relatively dark skin[1] or reddish hair.[2]

He lived all his life in Florence, and from his late 30s was kept busy as the court painter of

Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was mainly a portraitist but also painted many religious subjects, and a few allegorical subjects, which include what is probably his best-known work, Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time
, c. 1544–45, now in London. Many portraits of the Medicis exist in several versions with varying degrees of participation by Bronzino himself, as Cosimo was a pioneer of the copied portrait sent as a diplomatic gift.

He trained with Pontormo, the leading Florentine painter of the first generation of Mannerism, and his style was greatly influenced by him, but his elegant and somewhat elongated figures always appear calm and somewhat reserved, lacking the agitation and emotion of those by his teacher. They have often been found cold and artificial, and his reputation suffered from the general critical disfavour attached to Mannerism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Recent decades have been more appreciative of his art.

Life

Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, c. 1544–45, London, National Gallery

Bronzino was born in

Santa Felicita by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Pontormo designed the interior and executed the altarpiece, the masterly Deposition from the Cross and the sidewall fresco Annunciation. Bronzino apparently was assigned the frescoes on the dome, which have not survived. Of the four empanelled tondi or roundels depicting each of the evangelists, two were said by Vasari to have been painted by Bronzino. His style is so similar to his master's that scholars still debate the specific attributions.[4]

Towards the end of his life, Bronzino took a prominent part in the activities of the Florentine Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, of which he was a founding member in 1563.

The painter Alessandro Allori was his favourite pupil, and Bronzino was living in the Allori family house at the time of his death in Florence in 1572 (Alessandro was also the father of Cristofano Allori).[5] Bronzino spent the majority of his career in Florence.

Eleonora di Toledo col figlio Giovanni, 1544–45, oil on wood, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Work

Portraits

Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1550–55, London, National Gallery

Bronzino first received Medici patronage in 1539, when he was one of the many artists chosen to execute the elaborate decorations for the wedding of

Dante (c. 1530, now in Washington, D.C.) and Petrarch
.

Bronzino's best-known works comprise the aforementioned series of the duke and duchess,

Uffizi Gallery, and is one of the finest surviving examples.[6]

Bronzino's so-called "allegorical portraits", such as that of a Genoese admiral, Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune, are less typical but possibly even more fascinating owing to the peculiarity of placing a publicly recognized personality in the nude as a mythical figure.[7] Finally, in addition to being a painter, Bronzino was also a poet, and his most personal portraits are perhaps those of other literary figures such as that of his friend the poet Laura Battiferri.[8] The eroticized nature of these virile nude male portraits, as well as homoerotic references in his poetry, have led scholars to believe that Bronzino was homosexual.[2]

Religious and allegorical subjects

The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Madonna Stroganoff)

In 1540/41, Bronzino began work on the fresco decoration of the Chapel of Eleanora di Toledo in the

Jesuit order.[9]

Bronzino's work tends to include sophisticated references to earlier painters, as in one of his last grand frescoes called The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo, 1569), in which almost every one of the extraordinarily contorted poses can be traced back to

The Story of Joseph
, for the Palazzo Vecchio.

Many of Bronzino's works are still in Florence but other examples can be found in the

National Gallery, London
, and elsewhere.

Selected works

Lodovico Capponi
  • Works
  • Pietà, 1530
    Pietà, 1530
  • Saint Sebastian, 1533, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
    Saint Sebastian, 1533, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
  • Andrea Doria as Neptune, 1550–55, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
    Andrea Doria as Neptune, 1550–55, Pinacoteca di Brera
    , Milan
  • Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo, c. 1539
    Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo, c. 1539
  • A portrait of an unknown woman and boy, c. 1540
    A portrait of an unknown woman and boy, c. 1540
  • Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, c. 1540
    Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, c. 1540
  • Portrait of Laura Battiferri, 1555–60
    Portrait of Laura Battiferri, 1555–60
  • Holy Family with St. Anne and the Infant St. John, 1545
    Holy Family with St. Anne and the Infant St. John, 1545
  • Portrait of Bia de' Medici, 1545
    Portrait of Bia de' Medici, 1545
  • Portrait of a Man Holding a Statuette, 1545
    Portrait of a Man Holding a Statuette, 1545
  • Sacra famiglia Panciatichi or Madonna Panciatichi, 1545
    Sacra famiglia Panciatichi or Madonna Panciatichi, 1545
  • Portrait of Stefano Colonna, 1546
    Portrait of Stefano Colonna, 1546
  • Portrait Cosimo I de' Medici in armour, c. 1545
    Portrait Cosimo I de' Medici in armour, c. 1545
  • Ugolino Martelli, c. 1537
    Ugolino Martelli, c. 1537
  • Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus, c. 1537–39
    Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus, c. 1537–39
  • Venus, Cupid and Envy, c. 1548–50
    Venus, Cupid and Envy, c. 1548–50
  • John the Baptist, 1553
    John the Baptist, 1553
  • Garcia de' Medici, Prado Museum
    Garcia de' Medici, Prado Museum
  • Alessandro de' Medici, Cerralbo Museum
    Alessandro de' Medici, Cerralbo Museum

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Mistaken attempts also have been made in the past to assert his name was Agnolo Tori and even Angelo (Agnolo) Allori.

Citations

External videos
Deposition of Christ, (1540–45)
video icon Bronzino and The Mannerist Portrait, Smarthistory[12]
video icon Bronzino's Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo with her son Giovanni, Smarthistory[13]
  1. ISBN 978-0-19-102417-7
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781135578718
    .
  3. ^ Elizabeth Pilliod, Pontormo, Bronzino, and Allori: A Genealogy of Florentine Art (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001).
  4. ^ Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1100–1850)
  5. ISBN 0-947645-22-5
  6. ^ Janet Cox-Rearick, Splendors of the Renaissance: reconstructions of historic costumes from King Studio, Italy by Fausto Fornasori, Catalog of an exhibition held at Art Gallery of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, Mar. 10–Apr. 24, 2004, (King Studio, 2004)
  7. ^ Maurice Brock, Bronzino (Paris: Flammarion; London: Thames & Hudson, 2002).
  8. ^ Deborah, Parker, Bronzino: Renaissance Painter as Poet (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
  9. ^ Janet Cox-Rearick, Bronzino's Chapel of Eleonora in the Palazzo Vecchio (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
  10. ^ "Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) | Portrait of a Young Man, Possibly Pierino da Vinci".
  11. ^ "Morgante: Depictions of a Renaissance Jester Turned Duke".
  12. ^ "Bronzino and The Mannerist Portrait". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  13. ^ "Bronzino's Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo with her son Giovanni". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2013.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agnolo Bronzino.
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