The Medici: Portraits & Politics, 1512–1570

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this remarkable group of portraits by the likes of Raphael, Pontormo, Cellini and Bronzino reveals how artists adapted to the tumultuous political transformations that Florence underwent during the 16th century. The exhibition (26 June–11 October) focuses in particular on the ways that Cosimo I de’ Medici, who became the duke of Florence in 1537 and was later the first grand duke of Tuscany, wielded art as a tool transform the medieval city state into a flourishing Renaissance capital. Find out more from the Met’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Laura Battiferri (c. 1560), Bronzino. Image: © Musei Civici Fiorentini—Museo di Palazzo Vecchio

Alessandro de’ Medici (1534–35), Jacopo da Pontormo. Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Cameo of Cosimo de’ Medici and Eleonora di Toledo (), Domenico Compagni.

Cameo of Cosimo de’ Medici and Eleonora di Toledo (c. 1574), Domenico Compagni. Image: Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi, su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il turismo

Cosimo I de’ Medici (1545), Benvenuto Cellini. Image: Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi, su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il turismo. Photo by Francesco Del Vecchio