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This drawing is among the last examples of Bronzino's early preference for the motif of an upturned child's head. Until this date Bronzino had used red chalk—Pontormo's preferred medium—for his drawings, but for this study he shifted to black chalk, which would henceforth be his favorite. This large drawing was used in reverse for the head of the Christ Child in The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and Saint John. In 1540–41 Bronzino reused the drawing, adapting the child's head for a putto on the vault of the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Departing from his usual procedure, Bronzino drew on both sides of this double-sided sheet holding them in an upright direction. The studies are for Marsyas and Midas, two of the main figures seated at the right in Bronzino's The Contest of Apollo and Marsyas, a subject inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses (6:382–400, 11:146–93). Bronzino made the painting, originally a harpsichord cover, in Pesaro for the duke of Urbino. This side shows Apollo's rival, Pan, whose identity is indicated not only by the panpipes but also by the incomplete legs, which would have been represented below the knees as the limbs of a goat.
This large portrait of the great poet Dante (ca. 1265–1321), in strict profile with his head upright, was based on an old Florentine iconographic tradition, an important example of which is an early fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript. The study was preparatory for a painting, which, according to Vasari, was part of a series of portraits of the Tuscan poets of the dolce stil nuovo, who wrote about love—Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The paintings, in the shape of lunettes, were installed high above a room at the house of Bartolomeo Bettini in Florence. Of the depictions of the three poets, Bronzino's Dante was the most copied by contemporary and later artists.
One of the most fascinating portrait drawings of sixteenth-century Italy, this sheet has been attributed to Pontormo as well as Bronzino. The latter attribution is the most convincing, as the study exhibits Bronzino's meticulous technique of drawing with careful outlines and modeling, which he brought to a polished finish. It appears to be preparatory for a portrait, as suggested by the repeated detail of the hand at the lower right, which is posed as if presenting a letter. As he did in other works, Bronzino represented the sitter in the pose he often adopted for his portraits of Florentine patricians, derived from Michelangelo's Giuliano de' Medici in the New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo.
This drawing is among the earliest complete extant modelli (demonstration pieces) for the frescoes in the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. The fictive architectural elements of the vault were first ruled and detailed in black chalk, then the figures were inserted in black chalk and modeled with brown wash, some of them reworked with touches of brown ink. The gently curving, elongated quatrefoil form is devided into four compartments by ribs that are detailed with putti caryatids and small garlands, with the Medici-Toledo coat of arms at the center. Each of the four compartments contains the monumental form of a saint to whom Duchess Eleonora di Toledo (1522–1562) was especially devoted (from bottom clockwise): Saint Michael, weigher of souls; Saint John the Evangelist writing on the Island of Patmos; the kneeling Saint Jerome in penance; and the vision of Saint Francis with Brother Leo at his left. All four represent different eras in the history of mankind's salvation. Bronzino probably drew the Frankfurt modello before the actual building of the Chapel of Eleonora was complete. The vault fresco in the chapel was the first to be painted by Bronzino, probably in 1541.
This detailed study from life shows a seated male nude youth, presumably a garzone (workshop assistant), posed on a prop in Bronzino's studio. Despite the evidently careful degree of finish of the drawing, pentimenti outlines are visible throughout, especially on the lower part of the figure's raised right arm, the upper contour of his right leg, and the contour of his left hip, while the reworked contours of his left foot suggest that the heel was much thicker at first. This sheet represents an intermediate design intended for the seated, highly idealized figure of Saint Michael the Archangel, weigher of souls and protector of the elect on Judgment Day (Daniel 5:27, 12:1), frescoed above the altar in the vault of the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo.
Drawn from life, though inspired by a small Roman bronze, the Idolino (Museo Archeologico, Florence), this magnificent study is among the best published of Bronzino's drawings. The technique of subtle parallel hatching and cross-hatching, selectively blended for a soft sfumato effect on paper prepared with color, seems to emulate the surface of metal sculpture. The drawing was preparatory for the youth in the left foreground of The Crossing of the Red Sea and Moses Appointing Joshua, the lunette fresco on the south wall of the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo, which was the first of the walls to be painted. It is precisely datable, given that the inscription scratched on the marble door frame by the Brazen Serpent fresco in the chapel states: "On Tuesday on the 6th day of September [1541], the story of the pharaoh was begun; on the 30th day of March 1542, the story of pharaoh was finished."
This sheet is a fragment from a cartoon, or full-scale drawing, that was used to transfer the outlines of the design for the figure of the blond young woman at the left in Bronzino's Moses Striking Water from the Rock fresco in the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo. She is among the people of Israel who witnessed the miracle on the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:6–7). Bronzino probably produced the cartoon fragment about 1542–43, and its high degree of finish suggests that it also served as a demonstration piece for the patron. It is the only extant cartoon for a painting by Bronzino and apparently was used directly for work on the fresco surface. It is drawn in an unusually finished, delicate technique in which the charcoal and chalk applied with strokes of parallel hatching and cross-hatching were stumped flawlessly to create sfumato—very soft, evenly graded modeling in the manner of smoke. The sfumato effects in the woman's face dynamically contrast with the somewhat rougher treatment of the black chalk in the hair and veil.
This preparatory study is for Joseph Recounting His Dream of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, the second tapestry in the Story of Joseph series, destined for the east wall of the Sala dei Duecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. At the center, the young Joseph, clad in an elegantly knotted tunic, stands in profile facing left and leaning forward in a Michelangelesque pose that reveals the powerful musculature of his back. He points upward, as if to explain his dream to the elderly Jacob seated in the left foreground, stooped over his staff. The fine, controlled handling of the black chalk, brought to a high finish throughout the complex composition, reveals Bronzino's powers as a draftsman at their highest while emulating the ideal of the great Michelangelo (1475–1564). The drawing displays delicate nuances of tone in the modeling (the chalk is applied with finely intermeshed parallel hatching and cross-hatching, selectively rubbed to unify shadows), outlines of extraordinary vigor, and a few pentimenti.
This complex composition provides significant visual evidence for evaluating more fully the range of execution in Bronzino's large-scale drawings. It contains numerous spirited pentimenti and displays nuances of light and atmosphere throughout as well as suggestive, vigorous, and free contours. The monumental foreground figures are worked to a luminous, sculptural finish, with deeply graded shadows in dark brown washes and intense cream-colored gouache highlights, while the more smoky forms in the middle ground and background, done with pale washes or plain black chalk, gradually dissolve into the color of the paper. This squared modello was preparatory for the tapestry Pharaoh Receiving Jacob into Egypt, the eighteenth scene in the Story of Joseph cycle, which conflates two episodes: Joseph bringing his five brothers to the pharaoh, who grants them permission to live in Goshen (Genesis 47:1–6), and Jacob being presented to the pharaoh (Genesis 47:7–10). The tapestry was delivered to the Guardaroba Medicea on August 21, 1553, so the modello can be dated about 1551–53.
This recently discovered drawing exemplifies Bronzino's technique about 1550, with firm, highly refined outlines and subtly graduated shading. The old attribution to Michelangelo inscribed at the upper right and on the verso is fully understandable, as Bronzino's draftsmanship here owes a great deal to Michelangelo's highly finished presentation drawings. It is likely that this work was drawn from a studio model in preparation for a painting or a tapestry. The legs are similar to those of Joseph in Joseph Fleeing Potiphar's Wife, a tapestry that is documented as being finished on August 3, 1549, and of Christ in the painted Resurrection in the Guadagni Chapel, SS. Annunziata, Florence, of 1549–52.
This drawing, which is the original preparatory study, is shown here next to the copy derived from it (see next image). The present sheet exhibits numerous searching exploratory lines, while the copy is relatively free of them. Moreover, the original displays a greater nuance of tone, and the contours of the figure are modulated by the varying pressure of the artist's hand. The authorship of both drawings has been much disputed. In the same medium and of similar scale, both depict the crawling soldier at Christ's feet in Bronzino's altarpiece The Descent of Christ into Limbo, made for the Zanchini Chapel in S. Croce.
Of the two sheets of the same subject (see also previous image), this drawing became known first and was published as an autograph work by Bronzino. Likely the work of Allori, copying Bronzino's original, it bears erasures that appear to be corrections made by a copyist. The possibility of Bronzino's authorship of both drawings, as proposed by some scholars, seems illogical and inconsistent with his and contemporary practice. There are very slight differences between the two, but they are so close as to make a second authentic version unnecessary.
This meticulously executed study was preparatory for the Portrait of a Young Man. X-ray and other technical examinations of the painting have revealed that the design went through several stages. First, the sitter was shown bare headed and wearing an antique-style suit of armor, visible underneath the outline of the collar and shoulder. The drawing shows a bit more breadth in the cheeks and more pronounced irises, the latter conveying a starker expressive quality than is found in the final painting. Both painting and drawing fit well into Bronzino's work of 1550 to 1555.
This drawing is a preparatory study for one of the three paintings executed by Bronzino for the temporary celebratory decorations in honor of the marriage of Francesco de' Medici to Johanna of Austria in December 1565. They were hung in front of the Palazzo Ricasoli, near the Ponte della Carraia, in Florence. The elaborate compositions, with many closely spaced, animated figures in a variety of complex poses, exemplify the high maniera of some of Bronzino's last major works. He used the powerful Michelangelesque figure style for these large, grand compositions. The draftsmanship, with firm continuous outlines and subtle tonal shading, is also present in the three large studies for The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence on view in the exhibition (see Seated Male Nude and Standing Male Nude with Back Turned).
This is the earliest of the three surviving studies for Bronzino's fresco of The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence in the main aisle of the basilica of S. Lorenzo, Florence, which was the parish church of the Medici. In the fresco, the massive nude is shown in an elaborately contorted pose, ultimately based on Michelangelo and on Roman sculpture. The figure's imposing placement and sculptural presence dominate the right side of the fresco. The relatively broad handling is characteristic of the artist's late drawings and lends the figure a degree of naturalism, while the Michelangelesque musculature and athletic pose give him a dynamic, monumental force. (See also: Standing Male Nude with Back Turned).
This characteristic and fine example of Bronzino's highly finished late figure drawing was used, with minor changes for the figure, at the far left of The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence in the church of S. Lorenzo, Florence. The only differences between the drawing and the fresco are the additions of a small beard and a bit of drapery in the latter.