Best known for his Mannerist portraits, Agnolo Bronzino (usually known as Il Bronzino) served as court painter to Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici for most of his career, and influenced the course of European court painting. With a removed, unemotional style, Bronzino excelled at capturing real-world subjects, but was less successful as a religious painter. Instead of conveying a sitter’s character, his carefully composed images aimed to establish a subject’s social standing and restraint. The pupil and adopted son of the artist Pontormo, Bronzino’s body of work includes idealized images of the poets Dante and Petrarch, as well as members of the Florentine elite. Bronzino greatly admired the works of Raphael and Michelangelo.