St John the Baptist

Bronzino depicts Saint John the Baptist’s muscular figure in a restricted space, his torso twisted to accommodate the panel’s vertical format which creates a series of strong diagonal accents, zigzagging the length of the painting. This artificial, serpentine pose marks Bronzino’s move away from naturalism toward a more abstract elongation of forms and more stylised figures, a shift which occurred in the 1540s.

The long, vertical format of this work corresponds to its original function as part of a triptych altarpiece in the private chapel of Eleonora di Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Bronzino decorated the chapel between 1540 and 1565, as a celebration of the Medici dynasty. The larger, central panel of the original altarpiece (now in the Mus�e des Beaux-Arts et d’Arch�ologie, Besan�on, France) depicted the Lamentation, which was flanked by the present painting on the left, and St Cosmas on the right (a fragment of which is today in a private collection). The saints were chosen by Bronzino for their relevance to the Medici - St John was the patron saint of Florence, while St Cosmas was the name saint of Eleonora’s husband, Cosimo de’ Medici.