Bronzino, Agnolo (1503–1572)
Bronzino, Agnolo (1503–1572)
A painter of Florence, Agnolo di Cosimo earned his nickname of Bronzino from his dark, “bronzed” complexion. He was the adopted son of the painter Jacopo Pontormo, whose pupil he became and who had a strong effect on his style. He became the official court painter to Cosimo de' Medici, creating portraits of the duke and his family that were imitated throughout Europe long after the close of the Renaissance. He lived for two years in Rome, where he created religious paintings in the emotionally cold, brightly colored and precisely drawn “mannerist” style that was then in vogue. His famous works include Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, an allegorical account of love that Cosimo de' Medici presented as a gift to King Francis I, and Eleanora Toledo and Her Son, a portrait of de' Medici's wife and son. He helped to found the Academy of Design in Florence in 1563.