Home	Jacopo da Pontormo: The Life of Jacopo da Pontormo, Florentine Painter [1494-1556]
	Jacopo da Pontormo:The Visitation PONTORMO, Jacopo da, Jacopo Carucci, called. Pontormo 1494-Florence1557. Pupil of Andrea del Sarto (q. v.) in Florence. One of the most important figures of the first phase of Florentine Mannerism. Was first influenced by Michelangelo, but also, through Dürer's engravings, by the northern style. His hallucinated vision, his strong and imaginative draughtsmanship which at times leads to distortion of images, his liking for sharp and pallid colors all combine to make him the most vigorous and inspired exponent of Florentine Mannerism. Typical works: The Supper at Emmaus ( Florence, Uffizi); Joseph in Egypt ( London, Nat. Gall.); Descent from the Cross ( Florence, S. Felicita); frescoes of the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caino (near Florence). The interpretation of Mannerism is quite contrary to the facts. One has only to look at a few works by those Italian painters who flourished during the first half of the sixteenth century, whom the history of art invariably classifies as Mannerists--Parmigianino, Jacopo da Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Lelio Orsi, Angelo Bronzino, and Domenico Beccafumi--to realize that one can accuse them of anything one likes execpt academicism. Far from copying their predecessors of the High Renaissance, the Mannerists are characterized by a frenzied pursuit of new means of expression, delighting in linear distortion, unusual compositions, new color schemes, and unwonted themes. Often their works suggest the boldest artistic movements of our own epoch--Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. It is difficult to understand how anyone could ever have come to label them as imitators and conformists. The princely courts were, so to speak, the forcing houses of Mannerism. The Papal courts of Clement VII (pope from 1523 to 1534) and Paul III (pope from 1534 to 1549) employed Parmigianino, Rosso Fiorentino, Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga, Daniele da Volterra, Giorgio Vasari, and Bacchiacca. From Rome, Giulio Romano went to Mantua where he had a large following in his works for the court of Federigo II, Gonzaga. Jacopo da Pontormo, Angelo Bronzino, Giorgio Vasari, Poppi, Jacopo Ligozzi, and a great many others worked for the Dukes of Florence. The Duke of Urbino employed Girolamo Genga, Giovanni Battista Franco, and Taddeo Zuccaro. Bartholomeus Spranger, Hans von Aachen, Matthäus Gundelach, Josef Heintz, Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Joris Hoefnagel all worked at the court of the Emperor Rudolf II at Prague. Philip II of Spain called a group of Italian Mannerists to work for him, including Luca Cambiaso, Pellegrino Tibaldi, and Federigo Zuccaro. The School of Lorraine, which included Jacques Callot, Jacques Bellange, and Claude Deruet, flourished at the court of the Dukes of Nancy. The School of Fontainebleau is remarkable as a pure creation of the French kings of the House of Valois. In 1530 François I called Rosso Fiorentino to work for him at Fontainebleau. In 1532 Rosso was joined by Francesco Primaticcio, who held the position of first importance at Fontainebleau after the death of Rosso in 1540. In 1552 Niccolò dell'Abbate arrived at Fontainebleau, and together with Primaticcio decorated the Gallery of Ulysses in the Palace. The French sculptor Jean Goujon, as well as the most important French painters, Jean Cousin the Elder and Antoine Caron de Beauvais, formed their style on that of Rosso and Primaticcio. Antoine Caron de Beauvais and the so-called Master of Flora worked with Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate in the Gallery of Ulysses. Among the many other French artists who were formed at Fontainebleau, we should mention the painter of many elegant female portraits who is perhaps to be identified with François Bunel the Younger. The most celebrated Mannerist artists worked for these popular spectacles. Andrea del Sarto, the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, and Jacopo da Pontormo all decorated allegorical chariots for the masquerade organized by the religious brotherhoods of Florence to celebrate the election of Leo X in 1513. The chariot representing the Golden Age, designed by Pontormo, was particularly admired. Unfortunately, the child representing the Golden Age -- the son of a baker who had been paid ten crowns to play the role -- died soon afterwards from the effects of the gold paint with which he had been covered from head to foot. The solemn entry of Leo X during that same year was the pretext for further popular celebrations, for which Francesco Granacci invented a new type of entertainment in which a cavalcade was interspersed with short theatrical scenes. For the celebrations of the marriage of Francesco I de' Medici to Johanna of Austria ( 1565), Vasari prepared a series of allegorical chariots, the sketches for which are preserved in the Uffizi at Florence. Even funerals were the occasion for sumptuous artistic spectacles. The Academy of Painters and Sculptors in Florence executed a catafalque of extraordinary magnificence for the funeral of Michelangelo in 1564, to which each artist contributed the best of his talents. Such a vast crowd jostled to glimpse this marvel that it was necessary to leave it in position for several weeks. According to some contemporaries, Parmigianino had become totally enthralled by alchemy and spent much time hovering over his furnaces. Toward the end of his life, he became increasingly strange and melancholic. He neglected his appearance and "allowed his beard to grow long and unkempt, which made him resemble a savage rather than a gentleman." Jacopo da Pontormo had a horror of SYSTEM holidays and of crowds. "One could not imagine a more solitary man," said Vasari, "he lived in a sort of hovel ... The only way to gain access to the room in which he slept and worked, was by climbing a ladder which he used to draw up after him so that no person might come upon him unannounced." Piero di Cosimo also lived in the strangest possible manner. His daily nourishment consisted of hard-boiled eggs. So as not to waste his time in the kitchen, he used to prepare four or five dozen at a time, piling them in a basket to have sustenance of a kind for a fortnight. He could not stand the cries of children, the sound of coughing, or the chanting of monks. Thunder terrified him, and in order not to see the flashes of lightning, he threw his cloak over his head and huddled up in a corner. On the other hand, rain enchanted him and "he loved to watch the water streaming off the roofs and splashing on the ground." Giulio Clovio reported in one of his letters that El Greco habitually shut himself up in his room, closed the curtains and sat there for long periods in the dark, allowing his imagination free rein. Rosso committed suicide in a fit of nervous depression. The elongation of the Madonna in Angelo Bronzino's Annunciation creates an expressive elegance. But were it not for the elaborate arrangement of the drapery, which leaves us in doubt as to where the body ends and the legs begin, the effect would be quite monstrous. In Jacopo da Pontormo's drawing of a Seated Nude, all the details of the disproportion are visible, and the result is indeed disquieting.