Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni , c. 1545, oil on panel, 115 x 96 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 748

FLORENCE.- Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino (1503-1572), was one of the greatest artists in the history of Italian painting. Court artist to Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), his work embodied the sophistication of the Mannerist style. Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici, on view at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from 24 September 2010 to 23 January 2011, will be the very first exhibition devoted to his painted work. Bronzino conveyed the elegance of the Medici court in his work with “naturalness” and, at the same time, austere beauty.

Florence is the perfect setting for a monographic exhibition on Bronzino. The son of a butcher, not only was he born and died here, the city houses some of his greatest masterpieces, particularly in the Uffizi but also in other museums and churches. This landmark exhibition, with loans from the world’s most important museums, presents presents 63 works attributed to Bronzino, and 10 to Bronzino and his workshop, along with others by his master Pontormo, with whom he had close ties throughout his life. Bronzino’s paintings, with their sculptural definition, will be shown alongside sculptures by such 16th century masters as Benvenuto Cellini, Tribolo, Baccio Bandinelli and Pierino da Vinci, who were his friends and with whom he exchanged sonnets. The exhibition concludes with a number of works by Alessandro Allori, his favourite pupil.

Most of these jewel-like masterpieces have never been shown together. Alongside the paintings from the Uffizi, the exhibition will include such works as The Adoration of the Shepherds and the Allegory of Venus, Cupid and Jealousy from the Szépmvészeti Múzeum in Budapest, the Venus, Cupid and Satyr from the Galleria di Palazzo Colonna in Rome, the Portrait of a Young Man with a Book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Holy Family with St Anne and St John in the versions in the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, together with panel paintings from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and from the National Gallery of Art, in Washington.

The exhibition will show three hitherto ‘missing’ works by Bronzino, two of which, while recorded and mentioned by Giorgio Vasari, were thought to have been lost: the Crucified Christ which he painted for Bartolomeo Panciatichi, and the St Cosmas, the right-hand panel accompanying the Besançon altarpiece when it originally graced Eleonora da Toledo’s chapel in Palazzo Vecchio. Their rediscovery sheds new light on Bronzino’s work and on his ties with the heretical religious mood that permeated the Medici court before 1550. The third previously unknown picture is Christ Carrying the Cross ascribed to his later years.

The exhibition, which has taken over four years to prepare, is curated by Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali, the foremost experts on Cinquecento painting who have also contributed to the scholarly catalogue. The exhibition, in conjunction with Drawings of Bronzino at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (20 January to 18 April 2010), will play a central role in fostering a new interpretation of this important artist. For those who enjoyed the New York show, this Florence exhibition is a must-see.

24 settembre 2010-23 gennaio 2011. Palazzo Strozzi www.palazzostrozzi.org

APPRENTICESHIP WITH PONTORMO AND EARLY CAREER

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John, 1527-1528. Oil on panel, 101,3 x 78,7 cm. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection 1939.1.387

Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci) (Pontorme, Empoli 1494 - Florence 1557 ), St John the Evangelist, 1525-1528. Oil on panel, 76 cmFlorence, Chiesa di Santa Felicita, Cappella Capponi

Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci) o Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo) (Pontorme, Empoli 1494-Firenze 1557/Monticelli, Firenze 1503-Firenze 1572 - ), San Marco, 1525-1528. Oil on panel, 76,5 cm. Firenze, Chiesa di Santa Felicita, Cappella Capponi

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), St Luke, 1525-1528. Oil on panel, 77,2 cm. Florence, Chiesa di Santa Felicita, Cappella Capponi

Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci) (Pontorme, Empoli 1494 - Florence 1557 ), Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, 1529-1530. Oil on panel, 65 x 73 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, inv. 1912, n. 182

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, 1529-1530. Oil on panel, 64x43 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 n. 1525

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Guidubaldo II della Rovere, 1531-1532. Oil on panel, 114 x 86 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, inv. 1912 n. 149

BRONZINO AND FLORENCE: THE MEDICI

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), St John the Baptist, c.1543-1545. Oil on panel, 146,1x52 cm. Los Angeles, CA, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 73.PB.70

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Giovanni, son of Cosimo I de Medici, 1544-5. Oil on panel, 58 x 45,4 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 1475

BRONZINO AND FLORENCE: THE PANCIATICHI

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi, 1540. Oil on panel. 101 x 82,8 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 736

gnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, c. 1540. Oil on panel, 104 x 85 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 741

Agnolo di Cosimo detto Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Holy Family with St John (Panciatichi Madonna), c. 1540. Oil on panel, 116,5 x 89,5 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 8377

BRONZINO AND THE ARTS

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Lorenzo Lenzi, 1527. Oil on panel, 90x71 cm. Milan, Civiche Raccolte Artistiche - Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, inv. n. P 547

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Allegorical Portrait of Dante, 1532. Oil on canvas, 140x136 cm. Florence, private collection

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Holy Family with St Anne and St John, c. 1542-50, oil on panel, 133 x 101 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département de Peintures. Don du comte Albert de Vandeul, 1902., R.F. 1348

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Venus, Cupid and Satyr, 1553-1554. Oil on panel, 135x231 cm. Rome, Galleria Colonna, Inv. Salviati 1756, n. 66

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Venus, Cupid and Satyr, 1553-1554. Oil on panel, 135x231 cm. Rome, Galleria Colonna, Inv. Salviati 1756, n. 66

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Laura Battiferri, c. 1555-60. Oil on panel, 83 x 60 cm. Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Collezione Loeser

THE PORTRAITS

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of a Women (Matteo Sofferoni's Daughter?), c.1530-1532. Oil on panel, 76,6x66,2x1,3 cm. London, Lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, RCIN 405754

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of a Lady with a Small Dog, c. 1532-3, oil on panel, 89,8 x 70,5 cm. Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 1136

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of a Young Man with a Lute,  1530-2. Oil on panel, 94 x 79 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. 1890 n. 1575

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune, 1540-50. Oil on canvas, 115 x 53 cm. Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (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, Ottawa Purchased 1930, 3717

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna, 1546. Oil on panel, 125 x 95 cm. Rome, Galleria Nazionale, 1434

RELIGIOUS WORKS

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), St Sebastian, c. 1525-8. Oil on panel, , 7 x 76,5 cm. Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 64 (1985.2)

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Holy Family with St Anne and St John. Oil on panel, 124,5x99,5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. n. 183

Agnolo di Cosimo named Bronzino (Monticelli, Florence 1503 - Florence 1572 ), Holy Family with St Anne and St John,1550-1560. Olio su tavola, 133x101 cm.Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures, Don du comte Alfred de Vandeul, 1902, RF 1348

BRONZINO AND ALLORI.TOWARDS THE NEW CENTURY

Agnolo di Cosimo detto Bronzino e Alessandro Allori (Bronzino (Monticelli,Florence 1503) Allori (Florence 1535) - Bronzino (Florence 1572) Allori (Florence 1607) ), Holy Family with St John, c.1555-1559. Tempera on panel, 117 x 99 cm. Moscow, State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Inv.2699