- 59
Circle of Agnolo Bronzino
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Description
- Agnolo Bronzino
- a portrait of cardinal giovanni di cosimo i de' medici (1543-1562), half length, holding a bible
- oil on fruitwood panel, in an elaborate florentine 16th Century carved and gilt wood frame
Catalogue Note
The sitter was the second son of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574)and Eleonora of Toledo (1522-1562), and was created a cardinal on the 31st January 1560, and Archbishop of Pisa the following year. Although Vasari mentions 'un ritratto di don Giovanni cardinale de'Medici figliulo del duca Cosimo' commissioned from Bronzino for 'reina Giovanna', the future grand duchess of Florence, no autograph prototype of this composition survives. The best known is probably the minature (copper, 17 by 12.5 cm.) now in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. 1890, no. 850), which originally formed part of a set of small-scale portraits of members of the Medici family, now assigned to the workshop of Bronzino. For a full discussion of these and other images of Giovanni de'Medici, see K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, Florence 1983, vol. II, p. 1009, under no. 54.3.
Another smaller version, attributed to Bronzino, was offered Rome, Christie's, 6 December 2001, lot 294 and a studio-version of this portrait, depicted in bust length, was sold London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1994, lot 226.
Another smaller version, attributed to Bronzino, was offered Rome, Christie's, 6 December 2001, lot 294 and a studio-version of this portrait, depicted in bust length, was sold London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1994, lot 226.