Agnolo Bronzino | Court Painter to
Cosimo I de' Medici
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Eleonora di
Toledo and Her
Son, Bronzino c. 1545, Oil on panel, 115 x 96
cm
Uffizi, Florence, Italy
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Florentine Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) painted in the
mannerist style as the
primary court artist of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, in the middle of the sixteenth century of the
Italian Renaissance.
Bronzino was apprenticed to Jacopo Pontormo from whom he learned
fresco painting. Under Pontormo's mannerist
influence Bronzino developed a style rich in color often
featuring acidic hues like icy-blue and raspberry-red.
Bronzino was particularly interested in the female figure as
evidenced by his religious and allegorical works rich with
detail, symbolism and erotic content. Bronzino's nudes are
pale, elegant, and elongated, and the artist appears to be
detached from his subject. Of particular note is his portrait
of Eleanora di Toledo, Cosimo's wife, whom Bronzino
depicts sumptuously dressed with an aristocratic demeanor of
arrogance that typifies his work.
Brenda Harness, Art Historian
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