Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo and Her Son (c. 1545) - Oil on panel, 115 x 96 cm, Uffizi, Florence
The Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, finished c. 1545. It is housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy.
The painting depicts Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici, sitting with her hand resting on the shoulder of one of her sons. This gesture, as well as the pomegranate motif on her dress, referred to her role as mother. The child has been variously identified as being either her son Francesco (born 1541), Giovanni (born 1543) or Garzia (born 1547). If the subject is the latter, the portrait should be dated around 1550-53, but the date is now generally assigned to c. 1545, which would suggest Giovanni.
When Eleonora's body was exhumed in the 19th century, some concluded she wore the same dress as in the portrait. An almost identical hairnet might have caused this confusion. But newer research has proved it to be another dress, as shown in the books "Patterns of Fashion" by Janet Arnold, and "Moda a Firenze" by Roberta Orsi Landini and Bruna Niccoli. The remains of that gown has been conserved and is in the care of the Pitti Palace in Florence.
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