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Jacopo Pontormo Biography
(b. 1494, Pontormo, d. 1557, Firenze)
(Pontormo, 1494-Florencia, c. 1556)
Pintor italiano. Alumno de Andrea del Sarto
en Florencia, influido por Miguel Ángel y
después, a través de los grabados de Durero,
por el estilo nórdico. Sus principales obras
son: la decoración de la gran sala de la
villa Poggio, en Caiano, cerca de Florencia
(Vertumno y Pomona, 1520-1522); el claustro
de la cartuja de Galuzzo (ciclo de La
Pasión); El descendimiento de la cruz de
Santa Felicità de Florencia (1526), una de
sus mejores obras; La cena de Emaús; José en
Egipto y numerosos retratos de expresiones
muy originales. Después de 1545, fue
encargado de la decoración del coro de San
Lorenzo (Florencia); esta obra, intrincada y
poco monumental, no tuvo éxito (fue
destruida en el s. XVIII). |
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Jacopo Carucci (sometimes
spelled Carrucci) and called Pontormo, was
an influential artist in the 16th century
style of Mannerism and also as a precursor
to the later Baroque period. His training,
though sometimes brief, gave him a sweeping
influence of the time, including teachers
such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519), Mariotto Albertinelli (1474 – 1515),
Piero
di Cosimo (1462 – 1522) and prominently with
Andrea del Sarto (1486 – 1531). Jacopo da
Pontormo painting
became an important influence on his
prominent pupil, Il Bronzino (1503 – 1572).
This breadth of influence formulated in
Jacopo da Pontormo as a highly individual style, which
helped define the development of early
Mannerism, which would dominate the 16th
century. His patrons in Florence where the
Medici Family, giving even his early work a
prevalent influence. An early portrait by
Jacopo Pontormo, Portrait of Cosimo the Elder, is
of the Medici Ruler, Cosimo de’ Medici (1389
– 1464), now at the Uffizi Gallery. One of earliest Pontormo paintings, Leda and the Swan,
influenced by da Vinci’s own depiction of
Leda, also hangs in the Uffizi. Though, the
piece is still sometimes argued to be a work
of Sarto or possibly Perin del Vaga (1501 –
1547).
Of other Jacopo da Pontormo paintings now in the Uffizi are
Portrait of a Woman with Splindes (1514),
Portrait of a Musician (1518), Saint Anthony
Abbot (1518), Madonna and Child with Saints
(1520), Supper at Emmans (1525), Birth of
Saint John (1526), Madonna and Child with
the Young Saint John (1528), Martyrdom of
Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion (1529)
and another Medici portrait, Portrait of
Maria Salviati, mother of Cosimo I.
Pontormo’s other well know commission from
the Medici family was his masterful frescos
in their Poggio a Caiano Villa in Prato,
depicting Vertumnus and Pomona. the painting is
an interesting historical lineage of
Florentine art; the Jacopo da Pontormo art begun by his
teacher Sarto, continued by the artist
himself and then completed by Alessandro
Allori (1535 – 1607), who was trained by
his pupil Il Bronzino. There were
also several well known religious paintings
throughout Florence’s churches by Jacopo da Pontormo,
including his Deposition from the Cross and
his Annunciation. Last Pontormo paintings were
also a Medici commission for the Choir
frescos in their chapel in the Basilica of
San Lorenzo in Florence. His only surviving
works from this commission are preparatory Pontormo drawings.
Over the door of the company of la
Cecilia, on the hill of Fiesole, Jacopo Carucci did a
St. Cecilia in fresco, holding roses, one of
the most beautiful frescoes in existence.
When Maestro Jacopo, the Servite friar, had
seen these Jacopo da Pontormo paintings, his desire was greatly kindled, and he hoped to get
him to
finish the cloister, thinking that the
competition with the other masters who had
worked there would spur him to produce
something extraordinarily fine. Jacopo did a
Visitation in a manner somewhat more elegant
than his wont, being moved as much by his
desire for honour and glory as for gain.
This gave Pontormo art much greater beauty, for
the women, children, youths and old men are
rendered so charming, in such harmonious colouring, that it is a marvel. The
flesh-colouring of a boy seated on some
steps and that of all the other figures is
such that it cannot be surpassed for
softness. By these and other Pontormo paintings
he took rank beside Andrea del Sarto
andFranciabigio, who had laboured there.
Jacopo Pontormo finished the task in 1516, only receiving 16 crowns for it.
To continue: he next did a panel for the
men of Jacopo da Pontormo which was placed in the
chapel of the Madonna in their principal
church of S. Agnolo. It represents St.
Michael and St. John the Evangelist. At this
time a youth called Giovanmaria Pichi of
Borgo a S. Sepolcro was staying with Jacopo,
and did very well, becoming a Servite friar afterwards, while he executed some
Pontormo paintings in
the Pieve at S. Stefano.
But to return to the Pontormo paintings. Duke
Alessandro having restored the villa of Careggi, built by Cosimo de' Medici the
elder, two miles from Florence, and executed
the decoration of the fountain and the
labyrinth in the middle of an open court,
directed that the two loggias facing it
should be painted by Jacopo with assistance,
in order that it might be done more quickly,
and so that the conversation would render
him more cheerful and make him work without
troubling his brain with various fancies.
The duke himself sent for Jacopo, and asked
him to finish the Pontormo painting as soon as possible.
Jacopo therefore sent for Bronzino, and in the five compartments of the vaulting
made him do figures, namely Fortune, Justice, Victory, Peace and to Fame, and at
the sixth Jacopo himself did a Love. Jacopo Carucci then designed
some cherubs in the oval of the vaulting
with various animals, foreshortened from
below all except one being coloured by
Bronzino, who did excellently. While Jacopo
and Bronzino were engaged upon these
figures, Jacone, Pierfrancesco di Jacopo and
others did the surrounding decoration, and
so the whole work was soon finished, to the
delight of the duke, who wished to have the
other loggia painted. But there was not
time, for the Pontormo art being finished on 13
December, 1536, the duke was assassinated by
his kinsman Lorenzino on 6 January
following. On the succession of Duke Cosimo,
followed by the successful affair of
Montemurlo, the Pontormo painting of Castello was begun,
as related in the Life of Tribolo. The duke,
to please Donna Maria, his mother, directed
Jacopo to paint the first loggia on the left
on entering the palace. Here, after
designing the ornaments, Jacopo Pontormo gave it to
Bronzino to execute and to the others who
had worked at Careggi. |
Toperfect Design