The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570 Virtual Opening

Also streaming on Facebook and YouTube.

Some of the greatest portraits of Western art were painted in Florence during the tumultuous years from 1512 to 1570, when the city was transformed from a republic with elected officials into a duchy ruled by the Medici family. The key figure in this transformation was Cosimo I de' Medici, who became Duke of Florence in 1537, following the assassination of his predecessor, Alessandro de' Medici. Cosimo shrewdly employed culture as a political tool in order to convert the mercantile city into the capital of a dynastic Medicean state, enlisting the leading intellectuals and artists of his time and promoting grand architectural, engineering, and artistic projects.

Join Keith Christiansen, the John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of the Department of European Paintings, and guest curator Carlo Falciani, Professor of Art History at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, for a tour of The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570.  This stunning exhibition features over 90 works in a wide range of mediums, from paintings, sculptural busts, medals, and carved gemstones to drawings, etchings, manuscripts, and armor. Included are works by the period's most celebrated artists, from Raphael, Jacopo Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino to Benvenuto Cellini, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati.

Lead corporate sponsorship is provided by Bank of America.

Major support is provided by David S. Winter.

Additional funding is provided by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Alice Cary Brown and W.L. Lyons Brown, the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, Laura and John Arnold, the Diane Carol Brandt Fund, the Hata International Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill, Denise and Andrew Saul, and The International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.


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Image: Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) (Italian, Monticelli 1503–1572 Florence). Portrait of a Young Man, 1530s. Oil on wood, 37 5/8 x 29 1/2 in. (95.6 x 74.9 cm). H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.16)