  About the Artwork
  
  
  Portraiture was an important political tool for the ducal Medici family. Often sent abroad as gifts, portraits such as this one represented the stability and legitimacy of Medici rule in Florence. Eleonora of Toledo (1519–62), the wife of Cosimo I, was the daughter of the viceroy of Naples and therefore an important diplomatic liaison for the Florentine ruler. She and Cosimo had eleven children. The Identity of this child is uncertain, but most likely he is her second son, Giovanni (1543–62). The first version of this portrait (ca. 1545) is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
  
  
  Title
  Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1545 and 1550
  
  
  
  
  Makers
  
  
  Workshop of Agnolo Bronzino  (Artist)
  Italian, 1503-1572
  Agnolo Bronzino  (Artist)
  Italian, 1503-1572
  
  
  
  Medium
  Oil on wood panel
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 47 7/8 × 39 3/8 inches (121.6 × 100 cm)
  Framed: 66 × 57 1/2 × 5 1/2 inches (167.6 × 146.1 × 14 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth in memory of her husband Ralph Harman Booth
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  42.57
  
  
  Copyright
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