Il profilo 'mediceo' di Bronzino nelle Vite di Giorgio Vasari: tra sviste e adattamenti

Giorgio Vasari in his Vite (published in 1568) described Agnolo Bronzino as the perfect courtier of duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. The article analyses how Vasari selected information about Bronzino, avoiding all aspects would be politically controversial. Firstly, Vasari downsized the tuition of Pontormo and the artistic period lived by Bronzino to the Court of Della Rovere. Furthermore, Vasari forgot the friendship and artistic liaison of Bronzino with Benedetto Varchi, who had been exiled from 1537 to 1543. Then, Vasari ignored the portrayal done by Bronzino to his friend Lodovico Capponi, devoted to the Dominican Tertiary sister Caterina de’ Ricci and to the legacy of Savonarola. Therefore, Vasari proposed a profile of Bronzino, shaped on political and religious orthodoxy to the Medicean power.