Portrait of a Young Man

Bronzino was the official portraitist to the court of the autocratic Medici family in mid-16th-century Florence. The controlled atmosphere of court life is reflected in the slightly aloof detachment of this portrait of an unknown sitter. On the other hand, a sense of immediacy is conveyed by the sitter's partly open lips, as if he were about to speak. Bronzino's treatment of the young man's fingers reflects the Mannerist taste for exaggerated elegance and elongated proportions, while the enameled finish of the flesh tones is typical of Mannerist polished virtuosity.