Bronzino's Crossing of the Red Sea and Moses Appointing Joshua: Prolegomena to the Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo

Abstract

As an introduction to Bronzino's Chapel of Eleonora di Toledo, decorated for Cosimo de'Medici in 1540-45, this essay analyzes the chapel's major fresco, known as the Crossing of the Red Sea. It depicts not only an event at the beginning of the Moses cycle in the chapel but also its ending — Moses appointing Joshua as his successor. In the chapel's typological programme, these scenes prophesy Baptism and Salvation, yet they are also part of a cycle celebrating Cosimo as a New Moses. The Crossing of the Red Sea is an allegory of the Battle of Montemurlo, at which Cosimo consolidated his principate; Moses Appointing Joshua is an allegory of a new Medici dynasty established with the birth of Cosimo's son Francesco (alluded to in the Saint Francis on the chapel's vault), who will lead the Florentines to the Promised Land.

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Notes on contributors

Janet Cox-Rearick

Janet Cox-Rearick's major publications include The Drawings of Pontormo (2964, rev. ed. 1981) and Dynasty and Destiny in Medici Art (1984). [Department of Art, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021]