A Young Woman and Her Little Boy
Agnolo Bronzino·c. 1540
Historical Context
Bronzino's A Young Woman and Her Little Boy, painted around 1540, is a remarkable double portrait from the height of his career as court painter to Cosimo I de' Medici. While most Florentine Mannerist portraits emphasize aristocratic detachment, this image of a mother and child reveals a warmer, more intimate side of Bronzino's art. The identities of the sitters remain debated, but the painting's combination of formal grandeur with maternal tenderness makes it one of his most engaging works.
Technical Analysis
Bronzino's oil-on-panel technique achieves the smooth, hard surface characteristic of his mature portraits. The woman's elaborate costume is rendered with meticulous precision, while the child's face is painted with a softness that contrasts with the controlled formality of the mother's presentation.
Provenance
Possibly Baron Achille Seillière, Paris, until 1873;[1] probably by inheritance to Jeanne Marguérite Seillière, Princesse de Sagan, [later Duchesse de Talleyrand-Périgord], Paris, probably by 1873 until at least 1896.[2] (Cottier and Co., London and New York); sold 1905 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Fern Rusk Shapley, _Catalogue of the Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:92. [2] According to B. Berenson, _Florentine Painters of the Renaissance_, New York, 1896. [3] According to notes by Edith Standen, Widener collection curator, in NGA curatorial records.
