Francesco Mazzola, also called Parmigianino was commissioned to paint the Madonna with the long neck in 1534 by Elena Baiardi Tagliaferri for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Parma. In the commissioning contract, the artist undertook to finish the painting in five months, but when he died in […]

Grand Duke Ferdinando I de \’Medici had it set up after the wedding – in the second half of the sixteenth century – with Christina of Lorraine, who brought as a dowry, from France to Florence, a collection of gems and precious stones.

  This precious painting, documented by Vasari, depicts the Dutchess of Florence, Eleonora di Toledo, with her little son Giovanni. It was painted in 1545 by Bronzino, who was a student of Pontormo and the court portrait artist of the Medici.

  On the banks of the River Jordan in Palestine, Jesus is being baptised by St John, who is wetting Christ’s head with water. St John the Baptist is holding a slender cross and a scroll inscribed with the announcement of the Saviour’s advent

  The signed and dated painting was completed for the altar of St. Ansanus in the transept of Siena cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

  The altarpiece was originally in the chapel of Sant’Alò in the church of San Marco; it was commissioned by the Guild of Goldsmiths and was painted between 1488 and 1490.

  Rubens began his famous Marie de’Medici Cycle, for the Queen of France in 1621, where he also painted his, Henri IV at the Battle of Ivry and Triumphal Entrance of Henri into Paris, King Henri IV of course was Marie de’Medici’s husband, works now in the Uffizi Gallery.