The Holy Family
Bronzino·c. 1527/1528
Historical Context
Agnolo Bronzino's Holy Family, painted around 1527-1528, is a relatively early work by the artist who would become the defining painter of Florentine Mannerism. Before developing the cool, sophisticated style of his mature court portraits, the young Bronzino was still under the direct influence of his master Pontormo, whose emotional intensity and complex compositional experiments shaped Bronzino's early religious paintings. This Holy Family shows the transition between Pontormo's expressive manner and Bronzino's emerging refinement.
Technical Analysis
Bronzino's oil-on-panel technique in this early work shows Pontormo's influence in the vivid, saturated color and the complex arrangement of intertwined figures. The smooth, polished surface that would become Bronzino's hallmark is already emerging, though the emotional expressiveness still reflects his master's more turbulent sensibility.
Provenance
Possibly Capponi collection, Florence.[1] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1939 to NGA. [1] According to the Kress records in NGA curatorial files. [2] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2191.
