Portrait of a Young Man with a Book

Bronzino completed this sophisticated portrait during the 1530s, depicting an unknown young Florentine who likely belonged to the artist's circle of literary friends. The sitter stands in a Florentine palace, his left hand on his hip in a pose of confident ease, while his right hand holds a book with his fingers marking a place between the pages.

As a poet himself, Bronzino delighted in literary references and witty visual conceits. The book probably contains poetry, reflecting the intellectual culture of Renaissance Florence. Hidden throughout the composition are grotesque faces, an ancient Roman decorative tradition: mask-like features appear in the carved table and chair, and almost imperceptibly in the folds of the youth's breeches. These monstrous faces may imply that the sitter's handsome, cultivated appearance is itself a kind of mask.

The painting was acquired by the Havemeyer family in 1898 and entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art upon Louisine Havemeyer's death in 1929.