Agnolo bronzino biography of michael jackson

Agnolo Bronzino was a part of the Mannerist movement which emerged in either Florence or Rome around and followed the previous artistic era, the High Renaissance. The Mannerist movement was eventually replaced by the Baroque style in

Mannerism is a combination of the styles that came before. The movement drew particular influence from painters such as Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. As such, Mannerism became known for its artificial qualities rather than its natural ones. Agnolo Bronzino's Mannerist portraits distinguished themselves from the rest of the movement through incredible attention to detail combined with a still sophistication. Bronzino took particular care when painting materials, fabrics and clothing creating, what has often been called, a gulf between the viewer and the painting's subject. His very clear style would rise and fall in popularity over the centuries that have passed since, and was also impacted by the general demise of the Mannerist movement as a whole. Today, our appraisals of different artistic approaches tends to be a little more balanced, and artists such as Bronzino have been viewed more favourably.

The artist and poet, who is also sometimes known as Agnolo di Cosimo and Angolo Bronzino, learnt many of the techniques of the greatest Renaissance masters via his tutor, Pontormo. For the early part of his career he would be most effective at replicating his teacher, much more than other members of the same studio, but after leaving he would then start to develop more of his own, unique approach. His main focus would be portraits along with religious and allegorical subjects, and he also held a strong interest in literature, which would eventually lead to him becoming a poet himself. Indeed, some poets would appear within his list of portraits, but most figures were local to the artist, including many members of the

Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano, called Il Bronzino, was born in Monticello, outside Florence. He was first a student of, and then assistant to, Jacopo Pontormo, one of the founders of Florentine Mannerism. Pontormo, after studies with Andrea del Sarto, was influenced by Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Durer, and passed on these influences to Il Bronzino, one of the few artists able to get along with the melancholy, difficult old man. In , when an outbreak of plague struck Florence, Pontormo took Bronzino with him to Certosa where they worked together on a series of frescoes, now badly damaged. During this period, Il Bronzino's own reputation was established and by he was working for the Duke of Urbino. In he returned to Florence where he painted portraits and completed a fresco of his own before again working briefly with Pontormo at Careggi and Castello. In Duke Cosmic I, de'Medici appointed Il Bronzino his court painter and in the artist began the task (not completed until ) of decorating the private chapel of the Duke's wife, Eleanor of Toledo. 

Il Bronzino is most famous for his portraits, delicately formal in style, coldly clear, and with an enamel-like surface. He also painted decorative, allegorical scenes and a great many altarpieces for various Florentine churches. All of these were equally formalistic and elegant, as strict and austere as the atmosphere created by Eleanor, who imported to the Medici court a Spanish love of ritual ceremoniousness. More classical in feeling and character than his master Pontormo, Il Bronzino brought to Mannerism an almost marble-like purity of form that was not be to be equaled until the nineteenth century by Ingres. Active as an artist all his life, Il Bronzino aided Vasari and other artists in the realization of the founding of the Florence Academy of Fine Arts in Il Bronzino died in , in San Lorenzo, where, since , he had been working on a large fresco, which was completed by

Summary of Mannerism

Mannerism launched a highly imaginative period in art following the climax of perfection that naturalistic painting had reached in Renaissance Italy. Artists in 16 century Florence and Rome started to veer from classical influences and move toward a more intellectual and expressive approach. This ushered in a veer from authentic portrayals of figures and subjects, a rejection of harmony, and the development of a dramatic new style unconfined by the pictorial plane, reality, or literal correctness. Radical asymmetry, artifice, and the decorative also informed this movement. New discoveries in science had led society away from Humanist ideals and paintings no longer posited man as the center of the universe, but rather as isolated, peripheral participants in the great mysteries of life.

Some scholars further divide Mannerism into two periods. Early Mannerism, which expressed an anti-traditional approach and lasted until , was followed by High Mannerism where a more intricate and artificial style appealed to more sophisticated patrons, becoming a kind of court style. Later, the use of the term Mannerism to denote a particular period of art history was pioneered by Luigi Lanzi, an 18 century art historian and archeologist. The period would become a forebear to the Baroque period.

Key Ideas & Accomplishments

• A key element of Mannerism was the use of figurative serpentinata, or "serpentine figure" in depicting human bodies. With extended limbs, elongated forms, and a fluid S-shaped grace, these figures presented an otherworldliness that departed from classical renditions.
• Many Mannerist works presented individuals or scenes in non-naturalistic settings, oftentimes without any contextual basis, inviting the viewer into a more philosophical experience rather than a literal reading of the work.
• Mannerism's reach was wide, with many important schools that cropped up to experiment within this new form. Yet, while each school drew up

 The origins of art history can be traced back to the Prehistoric era, before the advent of written language.
 The earliest artifacts come from the Paleolithic era, or the Old Stone Age, in the form of rock carvings,
engravings, pictorial imagery, sculptures, and stone arrangements.
Medieval Art
 Often referred to as the "Dark Ages", the Middle Ages marked a period of economic and cultural
deterioration following the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D.
 Most of the artwork in the early years of this period reflects that darkness, characterized by grotesque
imagery and brutal scenery.
 Artwork was centered on more sophisticated and elaborately decorated churches with windows and
silhouettes adorned with biblical subjects and scenes from classical mythology.
 Carvings were used to create representations of objects, animals and rituals that prove the existence of
such civilization.
 The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed c. – BC. It is the longest, best-
organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian
dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hammurabi, sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon.
Renaissance Art
 This period was characterized by natural elements, individualism and realism. Artwork produced had
attention-to-detail and precision of the human anatomy.
 The Renaissance flourished in Florence, Italy primarily due to the Medici, a wealthy merchant family
who adamantly supported the arts and humanism, a variety of beliefs and philosophies that places
emphasis on the human realm.
 Filippo Brunelleschi is best known for designing the dome of the Duomo in Florence, but he was also a
talented artist.
 Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi better known as Donatello, was a Florentine sculptor of the
Renaissance period.
Mannerism
 Inspired by the ideals of Michelangelo, Raphael, and other late Renaissance artists, mannerists