Fashion Design Lab Magazine
january 2011 | nº 03
  Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court of The Medici
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 24th September 2010 – 23rd January 2011
Roberto Cantini
 
   

We can admire at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence the first great exhibition dedicated to Agnolo di Cosimo, so-called Bronzino (1503-1572), one of the greatest painters of the Italian art. This is an unique event, unrepeatable, in which we can see magnificent and wonderful works on table all together. In these works we can easily perceive the refined smartness of the Medici Court as well as the natural beauty and the aristocratic magnificence of that time.

Of course the city of Florence is the suitable place for an exhibition like this as it is plenty of his works, in fact the Uffizi Gallery and many other museums and churches keep his well-known masterpieces. This exhibition allows the visitors to admire about seventy works of the great artist, and also some others by Pontormo, his master, with whom he had for the whole life a nice co-operation.

The exhibition also hosts three absolute rarities, two of which were previously thought to have been lost that is: the Crucified Christ which Bronzino painted for Bartolomeo Panciatichi, and a St. Cosmas which was the right-hand panel to the Besançon altarpiece when it stood in its original location in Eleonora of Toledo’s chapel in Palazzo Vecchio. The third novelty is a picture of Christ carrying the Cross which may be assigned to his later years.

A major restoration campaign has allowed many of Bronzino’s masterpieces to recover the brilliant hues for which they were celebrated in the Florence of the day, allowing visitors to appreciate them for the very first time in their original beauty and splendour.

For this exhibition there is a special Bronzino pass which grants a discount on the entrance ticket of the exhibition and also for some museums and churches included in the itineraries of the Bronzino.

The fine catalogue of the exhibition is published by Mandragora.


Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence  1572) Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John 1526.8, oil on panel; 101.3 x 78.7 cm. Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.387 Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci; Pontorme, Empoli 1494.Florence 1557) St John the Evangelist, 1525.8, oil on panel; ř 76 cm Florence, Church of Santa Felicita, Capponi Chapel. Restored with a grant from Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Signa Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), attributed, St Luke 1525.8, oil on panel; ř 77,2 cm Florence, Church of Santa Felicita, Capponi Chapel. Restored with a grant from Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Signa
 
Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci; Pontorme, Empoli 1494.Florence 1557) or Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), attributed, St Mark 1525.8, oil on panel; ř 76,5cm. Florence, Church of Santa Felicita, Capponi Chapel. Restored with a grant from Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Signa Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci; Pontorme, Empoli 1494.Florence 1557) Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, 1529.30 oil on panel; 65 x 73 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, inv. 1912 no. 182 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand 1529.30, oil on panel; 66,5 x 44,7 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 1525
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Guidobaldo II della Rovere 1531.2, oil on panel; 114 x 86 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, inv. 1912 no. 149 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her Son Giovanni, 1545, oil on panel; 115 x 96 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 748 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), St John the Baptist, c. 1543.5 oil on panel; 146.1 x 52.1 cm. Los Angeles, CA, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 73.PB.70
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Giovanni, son of Cosimo I de’ Medici, 1545, oil on panel; 58 x 45.4 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 1475 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi 1541.5, oil on panel; 104 x 85 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 741 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi 1541.5, oil on panel; 102 x 83.2cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 736
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Holy Family with St John (Panciatichi Madonna), 1538.40, oil on panel; 116.5 x 93.5 cm Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 8377 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Lorenzo Lenzi, 1527.8 oil on panel; 90 x 71 cm. Milan, Civiche Raccolte Artistiche - Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, inv. no. P 547. Restored with a grant from The Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art Conservation Programme Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Allegorical Portrait of Dante 1532.3, oil on panel; 130 x 136 cm. Florence, private collection
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Venus, Cupid and Jealousy (or Envy) c. 1550, oil on panel; 192 x 142 cm. Budapest, Szépm.vészeti Múzeum, inv. no. 163. Restored with a grant from The Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art Conservation Programme Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503-Florence 1572), Venus, Cupid and Satyr, c. 1553.5 oil on panel; 135 x 231 cm. Rome, Galleria Colonna, inv. Salviati 1756, n. 66 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Laura Battiferri Ammannati c. 1555.60, oil on panel; 83 x 60 cm. Florence, Musei Civici Fiorentini, Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Donazione Loeser, inv. MCF-LOE 1933-17
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572) Portrait of a Women (Matteo Sofferoni’s Daughter?) c. 1530.2 oil on panel; 76.6 x 66.2 x 1.3 cm Windsor, Windsor Castle, State Apartments Lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, RCIN 405754 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of a Lady with a Small Dog 1530.2, oil on panel; 89.8 x 70.5 cm. Frankfurt, Städel Museum, inv. no. 1136 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of a Young Man with a Lute c. 1532.4, oil on panel; 96.5 x 81 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 1575
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune c. 1545.6, oil on canvas; 115 x 53 cm. Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera, Reg. Crono. 1206 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna 1546, oil on panel; 125 x 95 cm. Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, inv. no. 1434 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), Portrait of a Man (Pierantonio Bandini?), c. 1550.5 oil on panel; 106.7 x 82.5 cm. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Purchased 1930, 3717
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503.Florence 1572), St Sebastian, 1532.5, oil on panel; 87 x 76.5 cm. Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, inv. no. 64 (1985.2) Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence 1503. Florence 1572), Holy Family with St Anne and St John 1545.50, oil on panel; 124.5 x 99.5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. no. 183 Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Holy Family with St Anne and St John 1550.60, oil on panel; 133 x 101 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures, Don du comte Alfred de Vandeul, 1902, RF 1348
 
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo; Monticelli, Florence
1503.Florence 1572), Holy Family with St John c. 1555.59, oil on canvas (transferred from panel); 117 x 99 cm. Moscow, The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2699
 
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