Bronzino, 'Portrait of Piero de' Medici ('The Gouty')', probably about 1550-70

Piero de‘ Medici (1416–1469) was the son of Cosimo ’Pater Patriae‘ (’father of his country‘), and father of Lorenzo the Magnificent (patron of Michelangelo). They were all members of the Medici, the leading family in Florence during the Italian Renaissance. Although Florence was a republic at the time, Piero was in effect ruler of the city from 1464 until 1469. He was known as Piero ’il Gottoso‘ (’the Gouty') because he suffered from the illness, which on occasions was so acute that the government of Florence took place from his bedside.

He commissioned the magnificent fresco of the Adoration of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli that decorates the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. His own portrait and those of several prominent members of the Medici family are included among the Magi’s attendants in Gozzoli’s fresco. He died at 53 of gout and lung disease and was buried in the Medici church of San Lorenzo in a tomb created by Andrea del Verocchio.

This posthumous portrait was based on a much earlier marble bust by Mino da Fiesole, which is now in the Bargello, Florence. It was painted during the rule of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Duke of Florence and later Grand Duke of Tuscany. As court artist Bronzino was required to supply many such images and this painting, lacking the clarity and finesse of rendering of Bronzino’s autograph work, is likely largely to have been executed by his assistants. There is a copy of Bronzino’s Portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici at the age of 40 in the National Gallery’s collection.

Cosimo commissioned works of art to establish images of rulership for the Medici family, who did not have royal or aristocratic origins and had previously been a leading family of Florentine bankers. He commissioned portraits of his ancestors, such as this one, to emulate the ancestral portrait collections of royal families as a way of reinforcing his own rule. This bust-length, three-quarter view pose was a standard format for ancestor portraits in such collections.

Bronzino was Cosimo’s favoured portraitist and Cosimo commissioned many works of art from him. He also commissioned Bronzino to paint frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, which had formerly been the seat of the republican government. The Palazzo Vecchio was Cosimo’s residence as Duke before he completed building works on a more spacious home at the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the river Arno. Many of Bronzino’s portraits of Cosimo, his family and his ancestors are in the Uffizi’s collection.