Portrait of a Young Man

(Italian (Florentine) 1535-1607
c. 1570
Oil on wood panel

Alessandro Allori was raised by the artist Bronzino, the court painter to the Medici and the leading artist in the Florentine Mannerist style. This portrait of a young aristocrat exemplifies this style. Allori used virtuoso technique and attention to surface detail resulting in a pristine, highly polished appearance to the figure’s skin. The sobriety of his dress reinforces the calm firmness, almost superiority, of his expression−well-known attributes of Florentine nobility and Medici grandeur.