Cosimo de' Medici

Bronzino
Angelo Bronzino 036.jpg
Bronzino, Cosimo de' Medici, 1545
By HARPER TRUOG

Bronzino painted many portraits for the Medici family and worked as the court painter. The Medici family was rich and powerful in Florence, Italy at the time. Bronzino painted portraits with fine detail and extravagant clothing. The majority of his works are portraits of the Medici family and other members of the rich, ruling class. Bronzino only has a handful of mythological or religious paintings to his name.


This portrait is of Cosimo de' Medici, the head of the family.  Medici wanted a painting that showed not only his physical strength, but the strength of his rule. The light reflecting in the armor gives the metal a sense of reality and hardiness. The portrait is of Cosimo de' Medici as a young man to enhance the assertive image. The Medici family had just regained power in Florence after they had gotten rid of a Spanish garrison who had taken control. This painting was a message to anyone who doubted the power and fortitude of the Medici family.


Bronzino's figures are described as elegant yet stagnant.  No matter the content, the people in Bronzino's paintings show little emotion.  Instead, he focused most of his energy on the details of the clothing and other objects to bring them to life.  Bronzino's static style of painting was admired by the elite, and so they gave him many commissions.  His works influenced European portrait painting for many years.
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A Certain Type of Woman: Part III of V

Bronzino
Agnolo Bronzino, Guidobaldo il della Rovere, 1531

Titian, never one to let an opportunity for profit pass (and perhaps on the hint of Aretino) decided to do something rather naughty. He had Angela model for a portrait, the one we now call Venus of Urbino. Titian, perhaps letting his bawdiness get the best of him, thought Ippolito would get a kick out of this souvenier of Ippolito’s presumably enjoyable evening.

Only Ippolito never came to pick up the painting. And thus it sat in the studio for more than five years, until Guidobaldo il della Rovere, the young Duke of Camerino, saw it while sitting for a portrait.

On March 9, 1538 he told his agent in Venice to pick up the portrait and a picture of a nude woman. But there was a catch, Guidobaldo was a bit cash poor, and worried that Titian might sell the work. So he asked his mom for some money – seriously- she agreed and Guidobaldo received the painting before he took over the dukeship of Urbino in October of 1538.
Titian, Detail - Venus of Urbino, 1538

Oh, and another thing, Guidobaldo was married (for political and economic reasons, of course) to Guilia Varano in 1534. He was 20. She was 10. So, could it be possible that this unconventional Venus, the one who stares directly at us and seemingly invites us to sit on her daybed, actually be more an instructional gift from Guidobaldo to his young bride? This, my sweet, is how we do things her. This is how we how we pose artistically. Don’t worry, the servants will get your dresses.

We will never know quite for sure what Guidobaldo wanted with the portrait – whether what Mark Twain deemed high-class smut, or as the matrimonial embodiment of the most beautiful goddess. We do know, however, that our Venus of Urbino cuts a rather broad swath through the next 400 years of Western painting.

Editor's Note: This week's posts are an adaptation of a lecture given in January. Enjoy.

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