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The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512-1570
Portraits, an inherently personal subject, provide an engaging entry point to an exploration of the politics, patronage, and power in Renaissance Florence
The Medici family ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494, but following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici demonstrated an unprecedented ability to wield culture as a political tool. His rule transformed Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. As Florence underwent these dramatic political transformations in the sixteenth century, portraits became an essential means of recording a likeness and conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that distinguished Florentine portraiture. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(June 26–October 11, 2021)
The Medici family ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494, but following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici demonstrated an unprecedented ability to wield culture as a political tool. His rule transformed Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. As Florence underwent these dramatic political transformations in the sixteenth century, portraits became an essential means of recording a likeness and conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that distinguished Florentine portraiture. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(June 26–October 11, 2021)
328 pages, Hardcover
Published June 22, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 6, 2025
This is not exactly the type of book that many of us would simply read cover to cover. It is an amazing history of pre, current and post renaissance Florence, that, if you desire to take a deep, reader and art-lover friendly dive into the subject, is a most excellent way. Its focus is not only the Medicis as a multi generational family of rulers, but also how deeply the evolution of renaissance art was entwined with their influence on artists. LOVE this book, couldn't digest all of it in time allowed from the library, will definitely splurge and buy it, go back to it again and again. Recommend!
September 10, 2022
the introduction was a bit scattered, but the reproductions of the catalogue and their accompanying essays are worth a look
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews