Description

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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 Schedule:
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(June 26–October 11, 2021)

About the Author

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Keith Christiansen is the John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carlo Falciani is professor of art history at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence.

Praise For…

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“Cogent and illuminating.”—Washington Post

“The exhibit is exciting to move through and to enjoy firsthand, but the original research and commentary in the catalogue will open up this world of Cinquecento Florence after your museum experience.”—Anne Holler, The Florentine

“Excellent.”—Apollo

“The catalogue is beautifully designed with more than two hundred colour reproductions. . . . Merely turning the pages . . . provides a vivid sense of Florence under the Medici, and the essays and entries are intellectually intriguing for art historians while still accessible for students and the larger interested public.”—Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, Renaissance and Reformation

“A superb catalogue.”—Robert B. Simon, Burlington Magazine

“The sumptuous catalog . . . edited by Met curator Keith Christiansen and guest curator Carlo Falciani, contains glorious reproductions of all the works in the exhibition and brilliant, accessible scholarly essays.”—Joe Phelan, American Conservative