BRONZINO

studio of

PORTRAIT OF COSIMO DE' MEDICI, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY

By the 1540s an artistic type had been established for official portraits of Cosimo Medici I (1519-1574). In a biography of Bronzino, Giorgio Vazari informs us that the artist had depicted Cosimo at the age of 40. The original of the portrait has not survived: many repeat versions can be traced back to it, which were painted in Bronzino's workshop. It is possible to assume that the picture in the Pushkin Museum was painted by Alessandro Allori, the pupil closest to him.

Provenance: held in the collection of Senator Smirnov (St. Petersburg), later in that of V.A.Zhukovskii (St. Petersburg) and Doctor Koludzhirovich (St. Petersburg); acquired by the Pushkin Museum from the collection of A.A.Korshun (Leningrad) in 1934.