Agnolo Bronzino was a representative of Mannerism, a picturesque trend that arose in the bowels of the High Renaissance that was setting to decline.
Mannerism put art above nature, hence – some coldness, which blows from the works of the artist. At the same time, the portraits of his brush are full of that knowledge of a man that is accessible only to the great masters. Eleonora of Toled, daughter of the Neapolitan viceroy and wife Cosimo I of the Medici, and her children Bronzino wrote more than once, but this portrait is perhaps the best. She is represented here as the ruler of Tuscany.
The woman is dressed in a luxurious dress of silver brocade with gold embroidery, she has a pearl net on her head, pearl necklaces on her chest, her face is whitened and has a detached expression. But the chubby kid, whom Eleanor presses to himself, makes us forget about her title and see that in front of us, first of all, a mother who loves her child and feels for him.
Mother’s anxiety, which she could not hide even for the sake of etiquette, and noticed in the eyes of the woman Bronzino. It turns out that the entire luxurious outfit of the duchess is a kind of distracting maneuver that forces the viewer to consider minor things, then to meet his eyes with Eleanor and understand that this picture was created by an artist who deeply understood man.
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