The Medici : portraits and politics, 1512-1570
Keith Christiansen (Editor), Carlo Falciani (Editor), Andrea Bayer (Contributor), Elizabeth Cropper (Contributor), Davide Gasparotto (Contributor), Sefy Hendler (Contributor), Antonella Fenech Kroke (Contributor), Tommaso Mozzati (Contributor), Elizabeth Pilliod (Contributor), Julia Siemon (Contributor)
"Between 1512 and 1570, Florence underwent dramatic political transformations. As citizens jockeyed for prominence, portraits became an essential means not only of recording likeness but also of conveying a sitter's character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This book explores the ways that painters, including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati, sculptors such as Benvenuto Cellini, and others, endowed Florentine portraiture with the erudite and self-consciously stylish character that made it so distinctive. The Medici family had ruled Florence without interruption bewteen 1434 and 1494. Following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de Medici, who became the second Duke of Florence in 1537, demonstrated a particularly shrewd ability to wield culture as a political tool in order to transform Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art."--Front flap of dust jacket
Print Book, English, 2021
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 2021