Agnolo Bronzino: Italian Renaissance

Agnolo di Cosimo - Bronzino lived all his life in Florence and was a painter for the Medici. Cosimo was a pioneer of the copied portrait sent as a diplomatic gift.

His elegant and somewhat elongated figures always appear calm and somewhat reserved. Bronzino was a pupil first of Raffaellino del Garbo, and then of Pontormo, to whom he was apprenticed at 14.

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 Cosimo I de' Medici to Eleonora di Toledo, daughter of the Viceroy of Naples. It was not long before he became, and remained for most of his career, the official court painter of the Duke and his court.

Bronzino's real name was Agnolo di Cosimo, and the nickname Bronzino may be attributed to the dark complexions of the subjects in his portraits. He was born in Monticello, just outside Florence and spent most of his life in Florence, rarely leaving the city. After studying with Raffaellino del Garbo, an early Florentine Renaissance painter, Bronzino became a student of Jacopo Pontormo, a founder of the Florentine Mannerist style. It was under Pontormo, that Bronzino was greatly influenced, but was also one of the few students to endure studies under the difficult Andrea del Sarto.

Additional to his Frescoes and Portraits, Bronzino created series of religious works. Including, The Israelites passing through the Red Sea, (1542), The Resurrection of the Virgin Mary (1552) and The Martyrdom of San Lorenzo (1569). He also created erotic nudes, while still capturing moral allegories in his famous piece Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time. This piece is still seen today throughout popular culture.

This picture book presents a collation of Bronzino's work in visual form.