Актуальные проблемы теории и истории искусства

ДУБАРД ДЕ ГАЙАРБУА ФРЕДЕРИК (Парижский университет Сорбонна, Франция). Бенедетто Варки, Аньоло Бронзино. Ut pictura poësis sub specie mortis

FRÉDÉRIQUE DUBARD DE GAILLARBOIS (University of Paris Sorbonne, France). Benedetto Varchi, Agnolo Bronzino. Ut pictura poësis sub specie mortis

This paper will deal with the long friendship, collaboration and dialogue between the mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) and the polygraph, philosopher and iconographer, Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565).

As Varchi and Bronzino’s dialogue can’t be limited to the well-known participation of Bronzino in Varchi’s anthology of artistic letters published in his Due lezzioni (1550), the iconographic collaboration can’t be reduced to the already well known and well-studied portraits of common friends and lovers (Lorenzo Lenzi, Luca Martini, Laura Battiferri…) without forgetting the all too famous case of the Portrait of dwarf Morgante.

Maria Salviati (1543), Stefano Colonna (1547), Lucrezia de’Medici (1561), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1564)’s funerals (but also the tragic death of Eleonora da Toledo and her sons (1562)) offered Bronzino and Varchi various opportunities to work together (one provided the picture, the other the eulogy) and to elaborate sub specie mortis the confrontation between poësis and pictura which had fed a lifelong dialogue.

Buonarroti’s funeral may appear as the apotheosis of this collaboration as Varchi played a major role not only as orator but as iconographer of the highly elaborate and complex funeral apparel, entrusted to Bronzino as one of the deputati. Tokens and evidences of this multifaceted collaboration might be found in the poetic collections, published in occasion of Michelangelo’s death where we can find Bronzino and Varchi’s names as authors or dedicatees of poetic works.

Over giving new evidence to Bronzino and Varchi’s collaboration in addressing death rhetorically and iconographically, this approach may allow us a reflexion on the role of images and portraits in funerals, the recycling of portraits in the context of funerals and target a highly interesting poetic genre : the effigies, a poetic work on the portrait of the deceased. Varchi’s funeral inspiration and meditation, either poetic and prosaic, will be at the center of this paper. We’ll show the different sides of Varchi and Bronzino creative friendship: beyond the initial homosexual complicity, art, poetry and spirituality deepened with time this outstanding relation.

Benedetto Varchi, Giorgio Vasari, Agnolo Bronzino, funeral effigies, Ut pictura poesis

Бенедетто Варки, Джорджо Вазари, Аньоло Бронзино, похоронные изображения, Ut pictura poesis