The poetry of patronage

This study examines Bronzino's lyric poems to the Medici. It focuses on the three canzoni which the painter wrote to gain readmission to the Accademia Fiorentina in 1566 and the laments he wrote on the deaths of Eleonora di Toledo and her two sons, Giovanni and Garzia. Particular attention is paid to an examination of the metaphors of rule employed by Bronzino in these paeons to this patrons. Just like his portraits of Cosimo I de’ Medici and his family, these poems are embellished glorifications. Few rulers exploited the use of art as instruments of statecraft more aggressively than Cosimo. In both his art and poetry, Bronzino served these ends magnificently. (pp. 230–245)

Art · Art history · Literature · Painting · Performance art · Poetry · Portrait · Visual arts · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies