1534
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
Alessandro de' Medici is a 1534 oil by Pontormo, a Renaissance work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
This painting shows a man with a serious expression, dressed in formal clothing. He's wearing a hat and a cloak, and he looks directly at the viewer. The man in the painting is Alessandro de' Medici, a historical figure with a complex past. His story is interesting because he was the illegitimate child of a pope and rose to power in Florence. To learn more about the style and methods used to create this portrait, look into the technique of chiaroscuro.
This painting is a preliminary study of Alessandro de’ Medici that Jacopo da Pontormo and his workshop could consult during the creation of larger, formal portraits. Born the illegitimate child of Pope Clement VII and an enslaved African woman named Simonetta, Alessandro was appointed Duke of Florence in 1529. Known as “il Moro” (the Moor), then a common descriptor for people of African descent, his attempts to centralize authority fueled his reputation as a shrewd but tyrannical ruler. His short-lived reign ended with his assassination at his cousin’s hand.
Probably Cosimo I de’ Medici (d. 1574), Florence [it is almost certainly identical with the study described in Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori scritte da Giorgio Vasari, ed. Gaetano Milanesi, vol. 6, Florence, 1881, p. 278]. William Ward (d. 1885), 1st Earl of Dudley, London, by 1854 [described by Waagen 1854, as by Pontormo]; his son William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, sold Christie’s, London, June 25, 1892, no. 46, as Giovanni Bellini for £180, to Durand-Ruel, acting on behalf of Martin A. Ryerson [annotated catalogue , Ryerson Library, and letter from…
Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, Italian Old Masters and German Primitives, 1931, no. 26, as Bronzino. Muskegon, Michigan, Hackley Art Gallery, Italian Paintings in the Loan Collection from Mr. Martin A. Ryerson, M. Knoedler and Company, E. and A. Silberman, 1932, no. 6, as Bronzino. Milwaukee Art Museum, The Detective’s Eve: Investigating the Old Masters, January 19-March 19, 1989, no. 33. The Art Institute of Chicago, Bill Viola: A 25-Year Survey, October 16, 1999 – January 9, 2000, included in the gallery that held Viola’s The Greeting for the Chicago venue. Florence, Palazzo Strozzi,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (IPA: ; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (IPA: ), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School.
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