After Bronzino, 'Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany', probably before 1574
About the work
Overview
This is a portrait of Cosimo I de‘ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, at the age of 40. It is based on Bronzino’s official portrait of the Duke of 1559, but is unlikely to have been painted by Bronzino or his assistants.
Prior to Medici rule, Florence had been a republic. Cosimo was Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, at which point he became Grand Duke of Tuscany until his death in 1574. He was married first of all to Eleonora of Toledo and then to Camilla Martelli, and fathered 15 children.
He was a great patron of the arts, building the Uffizi (’offices') which now house one of the world’s greatest art collections, completing the Pitti Palace as a Medici residence and creating the Boboli Gardens which surround it. Cosimo commissioned many works of art from artists including Bronzino, Pontormo, Vasari, and the sculptor Cellini.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
- Artist
- After Bronzino
- Artist dates
- 1503 - 1572
- Date made
- probably before 1574
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 21.3 × 17.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort's wish, 1863
- Inventory number
- NG704
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1826L.K.E. von Oettingen-Wallerstein, Catalogue de la Gallerie de Wallerstein, Alte Pinakothek 1826
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1827L.K.E. von Oettingen-Wallerstein, Katalog der Gallerie zu Wallerstein, n.p. 1827
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1848Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Ancient Greek, Italian, German, Flemish and Dutch Pictures (Belonging to Prince Ludwig Kraft Ernst Von Oettingen-Wallerstein) Now at Kensington Palace, London 1848
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1857G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], translated from German by Elizabeth Eastlake, 3 vols, London 1857, vol. 3
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1857W. Bürger, Trésors d'art exposés à Manchester en 1857 et provenant des collections royales, des collections publiques et des collections particulières de la Grande Bretagne par W. Burger, Paris 1857
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1857G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at Manchester in 1857, Provisional Catalogue, Manchester 1857
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1858Signori Caldesi and Montecchi, Photographs of the ''Gems of the Art Treasures Exhibition'', Manchester, 1857, vol. 2, Ancient Series, 2 vols, Manchester 1858
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1867A.A. Lavice, Revue des musées d'Angleterre, Paris 1867
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1911National Gallery, An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1911
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1928A. McComb, Agnolo Bronzino: His Life and Works, Cambridge MA 1928
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1973E. Baccheschi, L'opera completa del Bronzino, Milan 1973
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1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
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1981K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici: 15th-18th Centuries, 3 vols, Florence 1981
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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