1550, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo), Portrait of a Girl with a Book (Giulia di Alessandro de' Medici?) -- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
From the museum label: Bronzino follows the same composition here, as he adopted for the entire series of portraits of younger members of the Medici family: the whole bust and the full-frontal, almost hieratic pose underscoring their aristocratic lineage. The costume reflects the stiff and luxurious, Spanish fashion introduced by the Grand Duchess Eleonora, but the frank gaze and serious expression reveal the adolescent's temperament, undoubtedly stimulated by her reading, as suggested by the book in her hands. This may be Giulia, Duke Alessandro's orphan daughter raised in the family of Cosimo I and married off at fifteen to Francesco Cantelmi, Duke of Popoli, in 1550.
1550, Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo), Portrait of a Girl with a Book (Giulia di Alessandro de' Medici?) -- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
From the museum label: Bronzino follows the same composition here, as he adopted for the entire series of portraits of younger members of the Medici family: the whole bust and the full-frontal, almost hieratic pose underscoring their aristocratic lineage. The costume reflects the stiff and luxurious, Spanish fashion introduced by the Grand Duchess Eleonora, but the frank gaze and serious expression reveal the adolescent's temperament, undoubtedly stimulated by her reading, as suggested by the book in her hands. This may be Giulia, Duke Alessandro's orphan daughter raised in the family of Cosimo I and married off at fifteen to Francesco Cantelmi, Duke of Popoli, in 1550.