Thesis Chapters by Liselotte Gertenbach
Master's thesis, 2021
Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) was a highly successful artist that worked for notable Florentine pat... more Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) was a highly successful artist that worked for notable Florentine patrons, like Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. He was especially popular for his gracious portraits of many cultivated Florentine men, but he also embarked on large commissions with religious themes. His reputation, however, was questioned not long after he died in 1572, and there were several factors that contributed to his declining artistic reputation. Firstly, Bronzino almost solely worked in Florence, only departing for a handful of trips in his life. As a consequence, his popularity remained very local to the city of Florence. Secondly, Giorgio Vasari’s biography on Bronzino in 1568 was superficially polite and positive, but might have subtly created an image of the artist that was uninspiring, incomplete and insufficient. And lastly, in the wake of the Counter-Reformation, Bronzino’s art – whether made before or after the Council of Trent (1563) – did not seem to satisfy the Church’s demands. In 1584, Raffaello Borghini openly criticised some of the artist’s religious images for being improper, overly aesthetic and untrue to scripture. Thus, Bronzino was left a somewhat faded local celebrity by the end of the century. An artist who made good-looking portraits, yes, but also one whose allegorical works confuse and whose religious works disturb.
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Thesis Chapters by Liselotte Gertenbach