Guidobaldo della Rovere
by BRONZINO, Agnolo, Oil on wood, 114 x 86 cm
Visible swoops of the brush describe the armors’s damascening with the aristocratic dash known as sprezzatura. By implication, the teenage nobleman and future condottiere (military leader) is endowed with the same quality - despite his winsome expression. Helmet and codpiece complete the ensemble. Compared with such mannered treatment, the naturalism with which the handsome hound is rendered is startling.
For this painting Bronzino used Pontormo’s very influential composition of the portrait of Francesco Guardi as a halberdier.