Cosimo I de’Medici

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Cosimo I de’Medici

Artist Workshop of Agnolo Bronzino Italian (Florence), 1503 - 1572

Date1545 or after

Dimensions41 × 30 5/8 in. (104.1 × 77.8 cm)

Mediumoil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1913.232

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesHarck, F., "Quadri di maestri italiani in possesso di privati a Berlino," Archivo storico dell'arte, II, 1889, p. 205.

Bode, W., ed., Die Sammlung Oscar Hainauer, Berlin, 1897, no. 68 (attr. to G. Vasari).

Schulze, H., Die Werke Angelo Bronzinos, Strassburg, 1911, p. iv.

Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 21, April 1914, repr.

Buttin, Ch., "Portrait de Jean des Bandes Noires," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, January 1925, vol. 11, s. 5, pp. 1-8.

McComb, A., Agnolo Bronzino, His Life and Works, Cambridge, 1928, p. 133.

Godwin, Blake-More, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, p. 16, repr. p. 17.

Two Cities Collect, Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1948, no. 3, repr.

Great Traditions in Painting from Midwest Collections, Urbana, University of Illinois,1955, no. 4, repr.

Berenson, B., Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Florentine School, London, 1963, I, p. 44, II, pl. 1445 (as partially autograph).

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Faison, S. L., Jr., "From Lorenzo Monaco to Mattia Preti," Apollo, Dec. 1967, p. 39, fig. 10.

Matteoli, Anna; "La ritrattistica del Bronzino nel 'Limbo,'" Commentari, XX (Oct.-Dec. 1969), p. 312, n. 28.

Levey, M., Painting at Court, London, 1971, pp. 99-100, fig. 81.

Fredericksen, B., and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Ninteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge, 1972, pp. 36, 515 (as School of Bronzino).

Baccheschi, E., L'opera completa del Bronzino, Milan, 1973, no. 54e, repr. p. 95.

Thomas, B., "Die Innsbrucker Plattnerkunst: ein Nachtra," Jahrbuch, Vienna, 1974, pp. 179-200.

Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 31, pl. 13.

Smith, Graham, "Bronzino's portrait of Stafano Colonna," Zeitschrift fuer Kunstgeschichte, vol. 40, no. 3/4, 1977, p. 268, n. 18, repr. fig. 21, 267.

Richelson, Paul William, Studies in the personal imagery of Cosimo I de'Medici, Duke of Florence, New York, 1978, p. 15, n. 5.

Livorno e Pisa: due Città e un Territorio nella Politica dei Medici, Pisa, 1980, p. 374 (not in exhibition, entry by Stefano Renzoni).

Schleier, Erich, "Herrscherbild und Staatsportrat," Bilder vom Menschen in der Kunst des Abendlandes, Berlin, 1980, p. 209, (not in exhibtion).

Langdijk, Karla, The Portraits of the Medici: 15th-18th centuries, Florence, 1981, no. 27, 35, pp. 420, 421.

Simon, Robert B., "Bronzino's portrait of Cosimo I in armour," Burlington, vol. 125, no. 966, Sept. 1983, pp. 531-533, 539.

Chiarini, Marco, L'ombra del genio, Michelangelo e l'arte a Firenze 1537-1631, Milan, Skira, 2002, no. 11, pp. 43, 44, 54 9, 11, 156, repr. (col.).

Acidini Luchinat, Cristina, Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence, London, Yale University Press, 2002, no. 11, pp. 36, 37, 44 n 9, 147-148, repr. (col.). Cox-Rearick, Janet and Mary Westerman Bulgarella, "Public and private portraits of Cosimo de'Medici and Eleonara di Toledo: Bronzino's paintings of his ducal patrons in Ottawa and Turin," Artibus et Historiae, no. 49, 2004, p. 127, 157, n 99, fig. 30, p. 125 [as Workshop of Bronzino].

Kirkbam, Victoria, ed., Laura Battiferra and Her Literary Circle, Chicago, University of Chicago, 2006, fig. 16, p. 29.

Alonso, Eugenia, Bronzino and Cosimo I de’Medici: The Power of an Image, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2010, repr. (col.). Link to resource.

Zapperi, Roberto, Die Papste und ihre Maler: von Raffael bis Tizian, Munich, Verlag C.H. Beck, 2014, p. 84, repr. (col.) pl. V.

Exhibition HistoryBurges, Exposition de la Toison d'Or, 1907, no. 158 (attr. to G. Vasari).

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Portraits and Portraiture Throughout the Ages, 1937, no. 8.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art; Toronto, Toronto Art Gallery, Two Cities Collect, 1948.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Great Portraits by Famous Painters, 1952, no. 2.

Champaign, University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Great Traditions in Painting from Midwest Collections, 1955, no. 4.

Florence, Plazzo Strozzi; Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Art, L'ombra del genio, Michelangelo e l'arte a Firenze 1537-1631, (Title of exhibition in U.S.: Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence), 2002-2003.

Comparative ReferencesSee also McCorquodale, Charles, "Most liberal Prince," CONNOISSEUR, vol. 199, no. 799, Sept. 1978, p. 29, fig. 3.Label TextCosimo I de’ Medici (1519–1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany, considered portraiture an effective vehicle for the fashioning of his personal and political identity. Here, he’s presented as a strong military leader in elaborate parade armor. Twenty-six painted versions of Cosimo I in armor, in various sizes and formats, are known, executed by the Medici court painter Agnolo Bronzino or by workshop assistants following his design (as is the case with this example). All versions served to reinforce the duke’s power through metaphors of rule and dynastic succession. Here Cosimo wears the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an exclusive order of knights into which Cosimo was inducted in 1545. The portrait also includes a broncone, or tree stump that sprouts new growth, on which the duke’s helmet rests. The broncone was a device that symbolized the vitality and supremacy of the Medici dynasty. The sprouting olive branch emphasized the Medici family’s pursuit of peace and intellectual development. The imagery defines the duke as an elegant embodiment of the refined Florentine court culture that flourished in times of peace—a peace guaranteed only by Cosimo’s rule and military prowess.