Portrait of Alessandro de' Medici
Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci), Italian (active Florence), 1494 - 1556/7
Geography:
Made in Florence, Italy, Europe
Date:
1534-1535Medium:
Oil on panelDimensions:
39 7/8 x 32 1/4inches (101.3 x 81.9cm)Curatorial Department:
European Painting
Cat. 83Credit Line:
John G. Johnson Collection, 1917
Made in Florence, Italy, Europe
Date:
1534-1535Medium:
Oil on panelDimensions:
39 7/8 x 32 1/4inches (101.3 x 81.9cm)Curatorial Department:
European Painting
* Gallery 251, European Art 1500-1850, second floor
Accession Number:Cat. 83Credit Line:
John G. Johnson Collection, 1917
Label:
Alessandro de’ Medici (born c. 1511), duke of Florence from 1530 until his assassination in 1537, is shown not as a powerful ruler, but in a private chamber making a drawing of a woman in metalpoint. At the time, drawing was considered an acceptable activity for a gentleman, but here the reference may be to love poetry. The fourteenth-century poet Petrarch, who enjoyed a revival in readership in the early sixteenth century, wrote sonnets about a metalpoint drawing he owned of his beloved Laura.
Alessandro de’ Medici (born c. 1511), duke of Florence from 1530 until his assassination in 1537, is shown not as a powerful ruler, but in a private chamber making a drawing of a woman in metalpoint. At the time, drawing was considered an acceptable activity for a gentleman, but here the reference may be to love poetry. The fourteenth-century poet Petrarch, who enjoyed a revival in readership in the early sixteenth century, wrote sonnets about a metalpoint drawing he owned of his beloved Laura.
* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.
