"Portrait of a Young Man as Saint Sebastian," Agnolo Bronzino, c. 1533.

Agnolo di Cosimo (1503-1572), known as Agnolo Bronzino, or simply "Bronzino," was an Italian Mannerist painter. Mannerism was a style of art that grew from the Renaissance, and was usually marked by asymmetrical arrangements and exaggerated proportions, as well as an unnatural elegance. While High Renaissance art strove for realism, Mannerism strove for the artificial.

Bronzino lived his life in Florence and was a major portraitist, as well as doing religious and allegorical paintings (including the endlessly fascinating "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time"). Many of his portraits are fairly straightforward affairs, of richly dressed nobles with severe expressions, but he also did a number of "allegorical portraits" where his male (always male) subjects are presented nude or semi-nude as mythical or historical figures. This, along with some of his writings, has led many today to conclude Bronzino was gay.

The identity of the sitter here is unknown, but his state of undress, and his cheeky expression, make one wonder.

From the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

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