Permanent display
Closing soon
The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570
26 Jun 2021 — 11 Oct 2021 at Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570 was a major exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021. It examined the ways in which the Medici family — one of the most powerful dynasties in Renaissance Italy — commissioned and deployed portraiture to assert authority, forge alliances, and shape their public image.
Spanning the years 1512 to 1570, the show traced the family's return to power in Florence and the consolidation of Medici rule under figures such as Cosimo I de' Medici. Through paintings, drawings, and decorative objects, visitors were invited to consider how art functioned not merely as aesthetic expression but as a sophisticated instrument of statecraft.
The exhibition brought together works by leading artists of the Florentine Renaissance, offering a rare opportunity to see masterpieces of portraiture in the context of the political ambitions that shaped them.
Spanning the years 1512 to 1570, the show traced the family's return to power in Florence and the consolidation of Medici rule under figures such as Cosimo I de' Medici. Through paintings, drawings, and decorative objects, visitors were invited to consider how art functioned not merely as aesthetic expression but as a sophisticated instrument of statecraft.
The exhibition brought together works by leading artists of the Florentine Renaissance, offering a rare opportunity to see masterpieces of portraiture in the context of the political ambitions that shaped them.
About the venue
Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5,727,258 visitors in fiscal year 2025, it was the most-visited museum in…
