ROOM II

PESARO

When the siege of Florence, which lasted from October 1529 to August 1530, was finally lifted, Bronzino moved to Pesaro where he remained for at least two years. His stay in the city marked a crucial turning point in his artistic career. Here he was introduced to the Della Rovere court and its population of highly sophisticated artists and artisans with their different backgrounds and skills. There were painters from north and central Italy, come to decorate the rooms of the Villa Imperiale. Girolamo Genga, Raffaellino del Colle, Battista Dossi and his inspired brother Dosso worked cheek by jowl with Bronzino, their influence driving his stylistic development, while his cultural education benefited from contact with the thinkers at court, who were also ardent collectors of works by their illustrious contemporaries. A direct comparison of Bronzino’s Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (one of his last works before Pesaro, in which Pontormo’s influence is still strong) with his Apollo and Marsyas (commissioned by Guidobaldo della Rovere, in which we can detect the influence of his encounters at court) reveals the rapid progress he made in the city.

Bronzino - ROOM II