STUDIO OF AGNOLO BRONZINOFLORENCE 1503 - 1572 | Portrait of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Possibly one of the members of the Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr, founded in 1561 by Cosimo I de' Medici in Florence (bears their wax seal on its reverse).

Possibly K. Langedijk, The portraits of the Medici: 15th-18th centuries, Florence 1981, pp. 421-2, under cat. no. 36, either nos. 3 or 5.

The actual painting is more tonal and more contrastful than the catalog would suggest. The painting is on a wooden panel, slightly warped, with a vertical grain which has two horizontal cutouts inserted, of which one baton is inserted along the bottom and the one along upper edge the space is left for another baton which is not present. Some old vertical cracks can be seen on its reverse, some of which run a bit throughout the panel, some touched up. One of these, a vertical crack (of ca. 18 cm) is also visible on the front running inwards from the top edge at ca. 21 cm from the right edge. This crack is visible in the catalogue illustration. An old vertical crack can be visible along 12 cm on his upper left shoulder. A small repaired damage (of ca. 1 x 1 cm) is visible in the upper right corner Some minor paint losses are visible along the edges foremostly along the corners. The painted surface is covered with a very dense and fine craquelure pattern which is a bit coarse in the figure’s fur collar. Some minor retouchings can be seen throughout. The varnish layer is dirty and discolored. Under the UV light The varnish layer fluoresces almost completely showing only strengthening in the right elbow of the figure, and in his shoulder. Offered with an Italian carved and giltwood frame with tiny old woodworm holes, chips and damages.
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This impressive portrait originated in the Florentine studio of Agnolo Bronzino. He was court artist from 1539, and his many state portraits of Cosimo and his family are propagandistic images of power and authority. Our picture shows Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), the scion of the illustrious Medici family, at half-length with his right hand holding a handkerchief. He is dressed in a dark violet fur-lined velvet costume with a small white collar, and wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece. This portrait belongs to a series of portraits probably made after 1560 in the workshop (labelled as type II by Langedijk, see under Literature); the age of the thirty-six fits the sitter perfectly.