“WHETHER provoked by his red hair or ruddy cheeks, the nickname Bronzino has stuck to Agnolo di Cosimo, an Italian Renaissance painter (1503-72). Though he started out as the son of a butcher, Bronzino became court artist to Cosimo de’ Medici, Duke of Florence. In addition he was an esteemed poet, with a sideline in witty, mischievous verse. Now the first ever large exhibition of his paintings has just opened in Florence, the city where he spent most of his life.”
Art History Ramblings 
Bronzino’s Allegory is the subject of my historical novel Cupid and the Silent Goddess, which imagines how the painting might have been created in Florence in 1544-5.
See:
http://www.twentyfirstcenturypublishers.com/index.asp?PageID=496