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Portrait of a Woman with a Lapdog
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian
Not on view
Bronzino here lays the foundation for his sophisticated poetics of portraiture. The pose and expression of this unknown sitter suggest self-conscious composure—a public mask of icy reserve that is parodied by the grotesque head ornamenting her chair. She seems to acknowledge the viewer’s presence while remaining aloof, exhibiting the unattainable perfection the medieval poet Dante ascribed to his ideal love, Beatrice. Bronzino’s treatment of the clothes and jewelry almost transforms the sitter into a heraldic emblem. She may be Cosimo de Medici’s aunt, Francesca Salviati (born 1504), who in 1533 married Ottaviano de’ Medici (1482–1546), the guardian of the family’s interests in the city throughout the 1520s.
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