# A Young Woman and Her Little Boy

**Agnolo Bronzino** (Italian, 1503–1572)  
c. 1540  
oil on panel  
overall: 99.5 x 76 cm (39 3/16 x 29 15/16 in.) framed: 134.6 x 111.1 x 6.7 cm (53 x 43 3/4 x 2 5/8 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942.9.6. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.1143.html).

## About this work

Agnolo Bronzino painted this in about 1540, aged 37. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

A woman wearing a crimson-red brocade dress and gold jewelry fills most of this vertical portrait, but her right hand, on our left, rests on the shoulder of a young boy tucked into the lower left corner of the panel. The woman and boy both have pale, white skin, and both face and look out at us against an emerald-green curtain that falls behind them. The woman has brown eyes, a straight nose, full pink lips, smooth cheeks, and a long neck. Her brown hair is pulled back under a turban densely embroidered with gold. The woman’s dress has puffed shoulders and decorative slashes on the sleeves. One gold chain rests on her throat and the other falls over her chest. She wears long gold earrings, a gold belt, and two gold rings. She holds a brown leather glove in her left hand. The boy’s face is even with the woman’s waist, and he raises his left hand to hold hers, which is draped over his shoulder. He has curly blond hair and dark eyes, and he wears black with a ruffled white shirt just visible at his collar.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil on panel.** Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Agnolo Bronzino](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/agnolo-bronzino)

Italian, 1503–1572; born in Monticelli; died in Florence

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 37
- Real size: about 39 × 30 in (100 × 76 cm). The 24 × 36 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: family
- Colour: red
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1323.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1323/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-young-woman-and-her-little-boy-nga-1143).