379. Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo) (1503-1572),

Italian, Portrait of Eleonor of Toledo and

Her Son Giovanni de’ Medici, c. 1544-1545.

Tempera on panel, 115 x 96 cm.

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

 

 

Bronzino

(Agnolo di Cosimo)

(1503 Florence - 1572 Florence)

 

Florentine Mannerist painter Bronzino, (originally Agnolo di Cosimo), whose nickname may be derived from his dark complexion, was the pupil and adopted son of Pontormo. If he kept his master’s manners for maniacal insistence on accurate drawing, he added a very personal use of colour, applied in a clear and compact fashion giving the aspect of varnish.

He excelled as a portraitist in the court of Duke Cosimo I de Medici, where he was a court painter for most of his career, but was less successful as a religious painter. Actually, he painted the type of religious work that gave a bad reputation to Mannerism. However, he was skilled in the nude as in Allegory with Venus and Cupid. His work influenced the evolution of European court portraiture for a century thanks to his cold and unemotional representation that conveyed an almost insolent assurance.