Bronzino's Men & Women

Curatorial Statement

The Renaissance artist, commissioned to paint a unique individual, did not always have to employ a unique approach. In the world of painting, where high demand required artists to complete their works within a time restraint, inherited and cultivated conventions allowed them to produce high quality, personalised pictures, without having to re-invent the wheel. Artists like Agnolo Bronzino, working in mid-sixteenth century Florence, developed his own strategies for portraiture that were both unique and formulaic. Pre-determined poses, colours, backgrounds, and objects could be tailored to suit the sitter. The sitters, wearing fashion that conformed to their society, would be placed in a space fit for them, but within the realm of Bronzino’s retinue.

This exhibition explores the ways Bronzino and his sitters reflected Florentine conventions in portraiture and dress, and how this resulted in portraits that are a combination of personalisation and standard devices. The six paintings featured in this exhibition highlight the usefulness of conventions, and also how subverting these conventions allowed painters to represent their sitters on a more individual level. Through these paintings, viewers will be able to understand that Renaissance artists were steeped in conventions – and sometimes ignored them.