Agnolo di Cosimo, usually known as Bronzino or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, Bronzino, may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddish hair.
Paintings by Bronzino
Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi (1545)
The Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi is an oil on panel painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, finished around 1545. It is a pendant to the portrait of her husband, Bartolomeo Panciatichi. Both paintings are in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
Lucrezia di Sigismondo Pucci was the wife of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, a Florentine humanist and politician. Giorgio Vasari describes the two portraits as: "so natural that they seem truly living". The refined garments and jewelry reflect her elite social position and aspects of her identity as a devoted wife. The words "Amour dure sans fin" ("love endures without end") appear on her golden necklace.
Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune (1545)
The Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune (Italian: Ritratto di Andrea Doria in veste di Nettuno) is an oil painting on canvas completed by Bronzino for a private collection in either the 1530s or 1540s. It is now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy. An oil painting on canvas, it measures 199.5 centimetres (78.5 in) by 149 centimetres (59 in). In a conscious revival of the convention in classical sculpture of showing important political figures in heroic nudity, it depicts the Genoan admiral, Andrea Doria, posing as the classical god of the sea, Neptune.
The subject of the painting is Andrea Doria, a Renaissance condottiero and admiral from Genoa, who was also the effective ruler of the city-state. He was around sixty when the portrait was painted (the date is somewhat disputed); either way his physique hardly reflects his age at the time.
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (1545)
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (also called An Allegory of Venus and Cupid and A Triumph of Venus) is an allegorical painting of about 1545 by the Florentine painter Agnolo Bronzino. It is now in the National Gallery, London. Scholars do not know for certain what the painting depicts.
The painting has come to be known as Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, and it is generally agreed that these are the principal figures (with "Folly" representing this or the personification of a similar concept). Cupid and Venus kiss in the foreground, while the putto Folly prepares to shower them with rose petals. The bald Time, at the top, looks on and holds a cloth. The meaning of the other three figures and the interactions between them all is much less certain. The painting displays the ambivalence, eroticism, and obscure imagery that are characteristic of the Mannerist period, and of Bronzino's master Pontormo.
Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo (1544)
The painting, Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo and Her Son Giovanni, was painted c. 1545 by Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino. The painting is of Eleonora di Toledo, the Duchess of Florence, and her son Giovanni. This portrait uses the position of the two and their clothing to exemplify her power, fertility, and the legacy of the Medici family. It is housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy and is considered one of the preeminent examples of Mannerist portraiture.
Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (1519–1574) and his Spanish wife, Duchess Eleonora di Toledo (1522–1562), were Bronzino's most famous and longstanding patrons. Emperor Charles V granted the Ducal title on Cosimo I de' Medici following the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici in 1537. Despite their wealth and connections, the Medici were merchant bankers whose political influence emerged from their clever business practices. They did not gain their wealth from being royalty. Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned numerous works of art and architectural projects in an effort to enhance Florence's beauty and position himself as a powerful leader, dynasty securer, and educated, devout individual. In 1539, Cosimo married the Spanish Eleonora di Toledo, the daughter of the viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro de Toledo.
Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici (1544)
The Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, finished in 1545.
In his position as court painter for the Medici, Bronzino was author of several portraits of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. In this portrait, Cosimo is represented in his younger years, commanding and proud; and to quote Giorgio Vasari, "clad with white armor and a hand over the helmet". It has been identified as having been painted in the Medicis' Villa of Poggio a Caiano in 1545.
Portrait of a Young Man with a Book (Bronzino) (1530)
The Portrait of a Young Man with a Book is a painting by Agnolo Bronzino created in the 1530s. After its creation, it was owned amongst various aristocrats and art collectors until it entered the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1929. The painting was commissioned by the powerful Florentine family, the Medici. Bronzino worked as court artist for Cosimo I de' Medici where he became the leading portrait painter in Florence. Bronzino's style of portraits transitioned from more natural to idealized instead, and this shift is evident in the composition of Portrait of a Young Man with a Book, which depicts a young man with his fingers placed inside of a book. Infared reflectology reveals that Bronzino deliberately made changes to achieve his goals for the portrait. This painting has many interpretations as it is unclear who the sitter is exactly.
Agnolo Bronzino painted Portrait of a Young Man with a Book around the 1530s for Cosimo I de' Medici. The Medici family was the dominant family in Florence from the 15th century up till the 18th century. They were a long line of merchants, bankers, rulers, as well as art patrons and collectors. International trade made them one of the most powerful and wealthiest families in Italy.
Deposition of Christ (Bronzino) (1543)
The Deposition of Christ is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, completed in 1545. It is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, France. A copy by Bronzino can be found in the Palazzo Vecchio. This portrayal of the Deposition, although it depicts all the characters typically shown when Jesus is being taken down from the cross, more correctly should be characterized as a Lamentation and is an excellent example of late Mannerism or Maniera.
The painting was originally commissioned to be the altarpiece for the chapel of Eleonora of Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Shortly after it was completed in 1545, Eleonora's husband, Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, shipped the picture to Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, a chief counselor of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, as a diplomatic gift. Granvelle installed it in his private chapel in Besançon. In 1549, Granvelle commissioned the construction of a grander funerary chapel on his Besançon estate. A year later, he died. The new chapel, with Bronzino's altarpiece installed, was consecrated in 1551. Subsequently, there is no record of the work from the seventeenth century until the French Revolution. To preserve it after Granvelle's chapel was partially destroyed, the picture was housed in the Besançon city hall from 1793 until it became a part of the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts when the museum opened in 1834.
Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi (1540)
The Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, finished around 1540. It is housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy since 1704.
Bartolomeo Panciatichi was a Florentine humanist and politician. His wife was also portrayed by Bronzino a few years later.
Panciatichi Holy Family (1539)
The Panciatichi Holy Family or Panciatichi Madonna and Child is a 1541 oil on panel painting by the Italian Mannerist painter Bronzino, signed on a stone in the bottom left corner. It is now in the Uffizi in Florence, where it was first recorded in the Tribuna in 1704. It remained there until 2010, when it was moved as part of the "New Uffizi" project. Preparatory drawings for the work are in the Uffizi's Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe (n. 6639F0) and (with variations) in the Phillips collection in London.
It may have been one of two "large paintings of Our Lady with other figures, beautiful and marvellous" which Vasari's Lives of the Artists mentions as being produced by Bronzino for Bartolomeo Panciatichi, chamberlain to Cosimo I de' Medici. A few years later Vincenzo Borghini mentioned "two paintings of the Glorified Virgin with other very beautiful figures" in the Panciatichi household. The Panciatichi link is supported by the flag with their coat of arms flying from a turret in the top left background.
Portrait of Giovanni de' Medici as a Child (1545)
The Portrait of Giovanni de' Medici as a Child (c. 1545) is an oil on panel painting by the Florentine artist Agnolo Bronzino. It is currently located at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.
This portrait uses oil paint on panel and portrays Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici. It was painted for his father, Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Bronzino was the official painter of the Medici Court from 1532 and did many portraits of Duke Cosimo I and his family. Cosimo had his portrait done by Bronzino around 1545, the Portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Giovanni and his mother Eleonora of Toledo were the subjects of another portrait by Bronzino from around 1545 or 1546, the Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son.
Portrait of Bia de' Medici (1543)
The Portrait of Bia de' Medici is a tempera on wood painting by the Italian Mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino, dating to around 1542 and now in the Uffizi in Florence. For a long time it was displayed in the Tribuna at the heart of the museum, but since 2012 it has been moved to the "sale rosse" of the Nuovi Uffizi. A second portrait, by Pontormo, has also been argued to show Bia de' Medici, but this identification is disputed.
After her death, many art historians believe her father commissioned a posthumous painting of his illegitimate daughter by Agnolo Bronzino, which often is regarded as one of his finest works. The work is 64 by 48 cm (25 by 19 in) and was painted in tempera on wood. The painting is on display in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.
Portrait of Ugolino Martelli (1540)
The Portrait of Ugolino Martelli is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, executed in 1536 or 1537. It is now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany. The work is signed "BRONZO FIORENTINO" on the edge of the table top.
Ugolino Martelli (1519-1592) was a Florentine aristocrat, humanist, and linguist, whose family palazzo can be seen in the background of the picture. A marble David of the family's collection appears in the background. It was formerly attributed to Donatello, while it is now ascribed to Antonio or Bernardo Rossellino and dated between about 1461 to 1479. The earliest reference to the sculpture is in the private records of Luigi d'Ugolino Martelli, Ugolino's grandfather, in an inventory of his possessions begun in 1488. It is now in the National Gallery in Washington D.C. David was a traditional symbol of Florentine freedom, and could be an allusion to Martelli adherence to the city's Republican party.