Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus

Gallery 350, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus

c. 1537-1539

Agnolo Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) (Italian (active Florence), 1503–1572)

Duke Cosimo I de' Medici is shown as the mythological musician and poet Orpheus after having calmed Cerberus, the doglike guardian to Hades from which Orpheus wished to retrieve his wife, Eurydice. The highly sensual portrait of the naked young duke may have several meanings: the peaceful age that the new generation of Medici wished to usher in, the duke's patronage of the arts and literature, or his marriage to Eleonora di Toledo in 1539. This painting could have been made in conjunction with ceremonies celebrating the latter occasion.

Gallery 350, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus

Date:

c. 1537-1539

Artist:

Agnolo Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) (Italian (active Florence), 1503–1572)

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

36 7/8 × 30 1/16 inches (93.7 × 76.4 cm) Framed: 45 × 38 × 4 1/8 inches (114.3 × 96.5 × 10.5 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. John Wintersteen, 1950

Accession Number:

1950-86-1

Geography:

Made in Florence, Italy, Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 350, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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