1546, Bronzino (Angelo di Cosimo Tori), Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna -- Palazzo Barberini (Rome)
From the museum label: The picture belongs to an official style of portraiture depicting illustrious military men that enjoyed a solid tradition in Florence, and indeed the portrait echoes that of Cosimo I de' Medici, the lord whom Colonna had served and whom Bronzino had previously portrayed in a similar composition.
The true protagonist here is the armour, almost a portrait within a portrait rather than a mere display of skill, because it is this "second skin" that forges the sitter's identity, an identity further emphasised by the initials S/C on the helmet and by the stark column behind him. Nor is it a coincidence that the sitter is pointing with his right hand to his helmet and to the shining reflection on it: the "lustre" as 16th century artists called it, that is also a clear play on words alluding to the lustre of the well-deserved reputation through which the soldier's virtue shines forth..
1546, Bronzino (Angelo di Cosimo Tori), Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna -- Palazzo Barberini (Rome)
From the museum label: The picture belongs to an official style of portraiture depicting illustrious military men that enjoyed a solid tradition in Florence, and indeed the portrait echoes that of Cosimo I de' Medici, the lord whom Colonna had served and whom Bronzino had previously portrayed in a similar composition.
The true protagonist here is the armour, almost a portrait within a portrait rather than a mere display of skill, because it is this "second skin" that forges the sitter's identity, an identity further emphasised by the initials S/C on the helmet and by the stark column behind him. Nor is it a coincidence that the sitter is pointing with his right hand to his helmet and to the shining reflection on it: the "lustre" as 16th century artists called it, that is also a clear play on words alluding to the lustre of the well-deserved reputation through which the soldier's virtue shines forth..