Agnolo Bronzino. Medici Court Artist in Context

In 2010 Agnolo Bronzino's work was celebrated by two major exhibitions (New York and Florence) and by a substantial number of talks, conferences and publications focused on the artist's drawings, paintings, poetry and his role at the court of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. This present volume is the result of a conference on Agnolo Bronzino: Medici Court Artist in Context held at the British Institute of Florence in December 2010. The conference papers were inspired by the exhibition then in situ at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi (curated by Antonio Natali and Carlo Falciani) that allowed unrepeatable comparisons across Bronzino's oeuvre in the galleries and in the palaces and churches of Florence for which many of these works of art had originally been intended. The international group of scholars presenting at the conference come from a range of disciplines and explore Bronzino's work with a diverse focus and research interest. Portraiture, attributions, the context of Medicean court culture, antiquities, dress and fabrics, tapestries, collecting history, the changing role of art during the time of the Counter-reformation and the longevity of Bronzino's artistic reach up to our own post modern times were explored in papers and discussion. The contents of this volume attempt to recreate the debate and to offer points of departure for new directions of research.