Agnolo Bronzino

Agnolo Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano Tori) (Italian, Monticelli 1503 - 1572 Florence),
"Head of a Young Woman," circa 1543-45.
Photo: Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence

Agnolo Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano Tori) (Monticelli, 1503 - 1572 Florence),
"Head of a Curly-Haired Child Looking Up to the Right"
(study for the Christ Child in the Holy Family with St. Elizabeth and St. John) Ca. 1527.
Black chalk, 12 5/8 x 9 11/16 inches.
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden

Agnolo Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano Tori) (Italian, Monticelli 1503 - 1572 Florence),
Head of a Bearded, Young Man in Profile Facing Right, 1545-55.
Black chalk on light brown paper, 8 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (21 x 15.8 cm).
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2001. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Agnolo Bronzino, "Head of a Smiling Young Woman in Three-Quarter View", ca. 1542-43.
Charcoal and black chalk (with stumping), highlighted with white chalk,
on white paper; some outlines stylus-incised.
Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts


Strokes, lines, shading,
This artistry of soul
Beauty eternal
Delicate and bold
Breath and life
Pulsing shown
In the touching, capturing,
Portraying of beauty known.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

To stand before such beauty, to be in the presence of such artistry,
to know that in this moment lives the art of centuries past,
is to live the glory of creation eternal.

On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from January 20 through April 18, 2010

The Drawings of Bronzino, the first exhibition ever dedicated to Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572),
the great Florentine court artist of the Medici.
www.metmuseum.org