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Agnolo
Bronzino

Italia • 1503−1572

Biography and information

He was a favorite student and assistant of Jacopo Pontormo, was influenced by Michelangelo. In 1530 he received an order in Pesaro, but two years later he returned to Florence. In the art of Bronzino, mannerism reaches its highest peak. The paintings are filled with figures that form in their outlines a beautiful, complex drawing; they are located in friezes parallel to the picture plane; while the master does not seek to transfer the real three-dimensional space. The verticals and diagonals are underlined, the figures are artificially elongated, their modeling is rigid, sculptural. These features are clearly visible in the paintings of the Piet (1565) and The Descent into Hell (both in the Uffizi Gallery).

In Palazzo Vecchio, Bronzino designed the chapel of Eleonora of Toledo with scenes of the Creation of the World and the faces of saints.

In the years 1540-1555 Bronzino drew sketches for tapestry workshops in Florence, among them - 16 scenes from the history of the Old Testament Joseph, on which he worked together with Francesco Salviati. The tapestries Giovanni Rost and Nicholas Carher created their works for the motives of his sketches.

At the same time, Bronzino wrote altarpieces for the Florentine churches and allegorical canvases for the duke, the most famous of which is the “Allegory of Love”, which the duke gave to French King Francis I.