Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Bronzino demonstrated the Mannerists’ fondness for learned alle-

gories that often had lascivious undertones, a shift from the simple

and monumental statements and forms of the High Renaissance.

Bronzino depicted Cupid fondling his mother Venus, while Folly

prepares to shower them with rose petals. Time, who appears in the

upper right corner, draws back the curtain to reveal the playful in-

cest in progress. Other figures in the painting represent other human

qualities and emotions, including Envy. The masks, a favorite device

of the Mannerists, symbolize deceit. The picture seems to suggest

that love—accompanied by envy and plagued by inconstancy—is

foolish and that lovers will discover its folly in time. But as in many

Mannerist paintings, the meaning here is ambiguous, and interpre-

tations of the painting vary. Compositionally, Bronzino placed the

figures around the front plane, and they almost entirely block the

space. The contours are strong and sculptural, the surfaces of enamel

smoothness. Of special interest are the heads, hands, and feet, for the

Mannerists considered the extremities the carriers of grace, and the

clever depiction of them as evidence of artistic skill.

Mannerist painters most often achieved in portraiture the so-

phisticated elegance they sought. Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man

(FIG. 22-45) exemplifies Mannerist portraiture. The subject is a

614 Chapter 22 ITALY,1500 TO 1600

22-46

Sofonisba

Anguissola,

Portrait of the

Artist’s Sisters

and Brother,

ca. 1555. Oil on

panel, 2 51 – 4 

3  11 – 2 .Methuen

Collection,

Corsham Court,

Wiltshire.

Anguissola

was the leading

female artist

of her time. Her

contemporaries

greatly admired

her use of

relaxed poses

and expressions

in intimate and

informal group

portraits like this

one of her own

family.

22-45Bronzino,Portrait of a Young Man,ca. 1530–1545. Oil on

wood, 3 1 –^12  2  5 –^12 . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

(H. O. Havemeyer Collection, bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929).

This depiction of a young intellectual with a calculated attitude of

nonchalance is typical of Mannerist portraiture. Bronzino recorded

the rank and station but not the personality of his subject.

1 ft.

1 ft.

22-45A

BRONZINO,

Eleanora of

Toledo and

Giovanni de’

Medici,

ca. 1546.