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Seated Male Nude (Study for the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence)

1565–69
Not on view
This powerful life study was preparatory for the figure of a seated River God, at lower right, in one of Bronzino’s most historically significant paintings, the very large fresco of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence in the church of San Lorenzo, Florence. The study is an extremely rare work, since there exist only 60-65 drawings by Bronzino. The elderly artist received the commission of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence from Duke Cosimo de' Medici in 1565, and the finished monumental fresco was unveiled in 1569. The male nude figure is shown here in a complex, seated pose that is meant to show off the artist's great mastery of drawing technique, human anatomy, and perspective. The interior modeling is achieved with seamlessly blended strokes, while the outlines maintain an impressive vigor of stroke and tonal inflection. The head and foreshortened facial features, in particular, are very boldly drawn, almost incisively so with the stick of black chalk, in order to sharpen and clarify the design for a far viewing distance. The compressed pose of the figure is precisely pinned down to align vertically the head, left shoulder, and left knee, and this creates a stark foreshortening of the limbs. In this, Bronzino's work of the 1560s constitutes a response and a challenge to the mature style of Michelangelo (who died in 1564). In turn, Bronzino's technical virtuosity as a draftsman and his superb mastery of his materials made him the greatest role model for the following generation of Florentine Mannerist artists.
(Carmen C. Bambach, 2010, revised 2014)

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Seated Male Nude (Study for the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence)
  • Artist: Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) (Italian, Monticelli 1503–1572 Florence)
  • Date: 1565–69
  • Medium: Black chalk, glued onto secondary support
  • Dimensions: maximum sheet: 13 x 18 3/16 in. (33 x 46.2 cm), corners cropped.
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Promised Gift of Leon D. and Debra R. Black, and Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2005
  • Object Number: 2005.354
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Study of a Young Woman in Three-quarter Bust-Length, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian, Black chalk on gray-blue prepared paper
Study of a Young Woman in Three-quarter Bust-Length
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
ca. 1540–42
Head of a Bearded, Young Man in Profile Facing Right, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian, Black chalk on light brown paper
Head of a Bearded, Young Man in Profile Facing Right
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
1545–55
Study of a Left Leg and Drapery, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian, Black chalk
Study of a Left Leg and Drapery
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
ca. 1550
Portrait of a Young Man, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian, Oil on wood
Portrait of a Young Man
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
1530s
Francesco de' Medici, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian, Oil on panel
Returned to lender
Francesco de' Medici
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano)
ca. 1551

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