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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). His work
became an important influence on his
prominent pupil, Il Bronzino (1503 – 1572).
This breadth of influence formulated in
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
Pontormo, Portrait of Cosimo the Elder, is
of the Medici Ruler, Cosimo de’ Medici (1389
– 1464), now at the Uffizi Gallery. One of
his earliest works, 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 his other works 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.-history of Jacopo Pontormo bio large oil pastel paintings - history of Jacopo Pontormo oil painting –history of oil painting Jacopo Pontormo Bio by oil pastel painting of large oil pastel painting, large oil paintings Jacopo Pontormo.
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 work is
an interesting historical lineage of
Florentine art; the work begun by Pontormo’s
teacher Sarto, continued by the artist
himself and then completed by Alessandro
Allori (1535 – 1607), who was trained by
Pontormo’s pupil Il Bronzino. There were
also several well known religious works
throughout Florence’s churches by Pontormo,
including his Deposition from the Cross and
his Annunciation. Pontormo’s last works 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 his
preparatory drawings.
Additional to a detailed biography in
Giorgio Vasari’s (1511 – 1574) The Lives of
the Artists, Pontormo kept a diary in his
last years. Jacopo Pontormo is described as a melancholy
artist, whose work reflected both passionate
genius and unusual experimentation. This is
embodied by his strong compositional skill,
contrasted by his often contoured, Mannerist
figures; the shinning example being his
Deposition from the Cross.
THE ancestors of Bartolommeo di Jacopo di
Martino, the father of Jacopo da Pontormo,
whose Life I now write, came, as some
declare, from Ancisa of the Valdarno, famous
as the home of the ancestors of M. Francesco
Petrarca. But whatever their place of
origin, this Bartolommeo was a Florentine,
and of the family of the Carucci. Pontormo
Jacopo is said
to have been a pupil of Domenico del
Ghirlandajo, and being a painter of merit,
who did many things in Valdarno, Pontormo
Jacopo ultimately went to work at Empoli, and took
a wife at Pontormo nearby, called
Alessandra, daughter of Pasquale di Zanobi
and Mona Brigida, his wife. the fruit of
this union was Jacopo, born in 1493. But the
father dying in 1499, the mother in 1504,
and the grandfather in 1506, the boy
remained in the charge of Mona Brigida, his
grandmother, who kept him several years in
Pontormo, and had him taught reading,
writing and the elements of Latin grammar.
At the age of thirteen she took him to
Florence, and put him in the Court of Wards,
so that his small property might be taken
charge of by that magistracy, as was the
custom. After leaving him in the house of a
cobbler, a distant relation, Mona Brigida
returned to Pontormo, taking Jacopo's sister
with her. But Mona Brigida dying soon after,
Jacopo was forced to bring this sister to
Florence and put her in the house of a
relation called Niccolaio, who lived in the
via de' Servi. But this child died in 1512
before being married. Jacopo had not been
many months in Florence before Bernardo
Vettori sent him to stay with Lionardo da
Vinci, and then with Mariotto Albertinelli,
Piero di Cosimo, and finally, in 1512, with
Andrea del Sarto, with whom Jacopo Pontormo did not
remain long, for after Jacopo Pontormo had done the
cartoons for the arch of the Servites it
does not seem that Andrea bore him any good
will, whatever the cause may have been.
Jacopo's first work was a little
Annunciation for a tailor, his friend. The
tailor dying before this was finished, it
remained in Jacopo's hands, who was then
with Mariotto, who boasted of it, and showed
it to all who visited his shop. It happened
that Raphael came to Florence, and upon
seeing this Jacopo Pontormo marvelled, and foretold
Jacopo's future success. Not long after,
when Mariotto left Florence to do the panel
begun by Fra Bartolommeo at Viterbo, Jacopo,
who was young, melancholy and lonely,
remained without a master, and went of his
own accord to Andrea del Sarto at the time
when Jacopo Pontormo had completed the series on St.
Philip in the court of the Servites. These
greatly pleased Jacopo, as did the style,
design and everything else of Andrea. Jacopo
therefore tried to imitate him, and before
long Jacopo Pontormo made marvellous progress in design
and colouring, so that Jacopo Pontormo seemed to have
followed art for many years. Andrea having
finished an Annunciation for the church of
the friars of Sangallo, now destroyed,
Jacopo Pontormo gave the predella to Jacopo to do in oils.
Jacopo Pontormo made a dead Christ, with two little
angels weeping and holding torches. At the
sides Jacopo Pontormo did two prophets in circles,
executed with the skill of a master. But
Bronzino has said that Jacopo Pontormo remembers having
heard from Jacopo that Rossi also worked at
the predella. Jacopo also assisted Andrea in
many pictures and works on which Pontormo
Jacopo was
continually engaged.-history of Jacopo Pontormo bio large oil pastel paintings - history of Jacopo Pontormo oil painting –history of oil painting Jacopo Pontormo Bio by oil pastel painting of large oil pastel painting, large oil paintings Jacopo Pontormo.
On the elevation of Cardinal Giovanni de'
Medici to the papacy as Leo X., the friends
of the house in Florence made numerous
scutcheons of the Pope in stone, marble,
canvas and fresco. The Servite friars,
wishing to show their devotion to the house
and the Pope, had a stone coat-of-arms of
Leo made and placed in the middle of the
arch of the first portico of the Nuniata, on
the piazza, and soon after directed Andrea
di Cosimo, 1 the painter, to gild and
decorate it with arabesques, of which
Jacopo Pontormo was
an excellent master, and with devices of the
Medici house, adding figures of Faith and
Charity on either side. Andrea, feeling that
Jacopo Pontormo could not do so much by himself, resolved
to give the figures to others, and calling
Jacopo, who was not more than nineteen,
Jacopo Pontormo gave them to him, although
Jacopo Pontormo had some
difficulty to persuade him, as the youth was
unwilling at first to undertake a work in a
place of such importance. However, Pontormo
Jacopo took
courage, and although Jacopo Pontormo was not so skilful
in fresco as in oils, Jacopo Pontormo accepted the work.
While still with Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo
Jacopo withdrew to make the cartoons in S. Antonio
at the Faenza gate, where Jacopo Pontormo lived, and,
that done, Jacopo Pontormo one day took his master to see
them. And re-appraised them loudly, but,
whether through envy or some other cause,
Jacopo Pontormo never regarded Jacopo kindly again. Thus,
when Jacopo sometimes went to his shop, it
was shut, or Jacopo Pontormo was chased away by the
apprentices. Accordingly Jacopo Pontormo withdrew and
began to reduce his expenses, for Pontormo
Jacopo was
very poor, and studied with great assiduity.
When Andrea di Cosimo had finished gilding
the arms, Jacopo began to finish the rest by
himself, and moved by his desire to make a
name, and aided by his natural grace and
fertility, Jacopo Pontormo executed the work with
marvelous quickness, and as perfectly as an
old and experienced master. With added
courage, Jacopo Pontormo felt Pontormo
Jacopo could do a much better
work, and Jacopo Pontormo had thought of breaking up the
old one and making another after a design of
his own. The friars, seeing the work was
finished and that Jacopo came no more, went
to Andrea and persuaded him to unveil his
work. Andrea sought Jacopo to ask if
Jacopo Pontormo wished to retouch anything, and not finding
him, for Jacopo Pontormo was engrossed upon the new
design, and would see no one, Pontormo
Jacopo removed the
scaffolding and uncovered the work. That
same evening, when Jacopo left his house to
go to the Servites, it being night, to take
down what Jacopo Pontormo had done and set to work on the
new design, Jacopo Pontormo found the work unveiled and a
crowd regarding it. Jacopo Pontormo sought out Andrea,
and wrathfully complained of his acting
without him, telling him what Pontormo
Jacopo intended to
do. Andrea answered, “You do wrong to
complain, for your work is so good that I am
sure you could not do better, and as you
will have no lack of employment, use these
designs for something else." His work was of
such beauty that for its new style and the
sweetness of the heads of the two women and
the charm of the infants it was the finest
fresco ever seen till then. There are two
other infants in the air holding a drapery
over the Pope's arms, of unsurpassable
beauty, while all the figures have the
utmost relief, and their colouring cannot be
over-praised. Michelagnolo, on seeing it,
and knowing it to be the work of a youth of
nineteen, said," This youth, if
Jacopo Pontormo lives and
continues to pursue art, will attain to
heaven." The men of Pontormo, hearing of
Jacopo's renown, sent for him and employed
him to do the arms of Pope Leo over a door
on the main street, with two lovely infants,
but it has been all but destroyed by water.
At the carnival of that year there were
great rejoicings in Florence over the
creation of Leo, and, among other
festivities, two were carried out at the
expense of two companies of lords and nobles
of the city. The head of one of these,
called the Diamond, was Sig. Giuliano de'
Medici, the Pope's brother, and .it was so
called because the diamond was the device of
Lorenzo the elder, his father. That of the
other, with a Branch as device, had Sig.
Lorenzo, son of Piero de' Medici, as its
head, with a dried laurel branch, with new
leaves springing forth, to show the revival
of his grandfather's name. M. Andrea Dazzi,
who was then professing Greek and Latin at
the University of Florence, was charged by
the Diamond company to devise something for
a triumph. Jacopo Pontormo arranged one like those of the
Romans, with three beautiful wooden cars
richly painted. The first represented Boy-
hood, with a row of boys; the second was
Manhood, with persons who had done great
things at that season of life; the third was
Old Age, with men who had done great deeds
when old. All the characters were most
sumptuously dressed. The architects of these
cars were Raffaello delle Viviole, Carota
the carver, Andreadi Cosimo the painter, and
Andrea del Sarto. The draperies of the
figures were designed by Ser Piero da Vinci,
Lionardo's father, and Bernardo di Giordano,
while Jacopo Pontormo was charged to paint
the three cars single handed, with scenes in
chiaroscuro, representing the
transformations of the gods. These are now
in the possession of Pietro Paolo Galeotti,
an excellent goldsmith. The first car bore
the device Erimus, the second Sumus, the
third Fuimus. The canzone began: "Volano gli
anni" etc.
Sig. Lorenzo, head of the Branch company,
having seen these things and desiring to
surpass them, gave the charge of all to
Jacopo Nardi, a noble and learned man (to
whom his native Florence was afterwards much
bound). This Jacopo arranged Six triumphs,
double in number to those of the Diamond.
The first, drawn by oxen draped with grass,
represented the golden age of Saturn and
Janus. At the top of the car were Saturn
with the scythe and two-headed Janus holding
the keys of the temple of Peace, with Fury
bound at his feet, and countless things
pertaining to Saturn, beautifully coloured
by Pontormo. Six pairs of shepherds
accompanied this car, dressed in sable and
martin’s fur, wearing shoes of antique
pattern and with garlands on their heads of
many kinds of leaves. The horses on which
they rode were without saddles, but covered
with the skins of lions, tigers and wolves,
the gilded claws of which hung gracefully at
the sides. The cruppers had gold cord and
the spurs bore the heads of sheep, dogs and
other animals. The bridles were made of
various kinds of verdure and silver cord.
Each shepherd had four footmen dressed as
shepherds of a simple kind in other skins,
bearing torches made like dry branches and
with pine-branches, very beautiful to see.
The second car, drawn by two pairs of oxen
draped with rich cloth, with garlands at
their heads and large beads hanging from
their gilt horns, carried Numa Pompilius,
second King of the Romans, with the books of
religion and all the priestly trappings and
necessaries for sacrifice, as Pontormo
Jacopo was the
first of the Romans to regulate religion and
sacrifices. Six priests accompanied the car
on handsome mules, their heads covered with
cloth hoods embroidered with gold and silver
ivy leaves, worked with mastery. They wore
ancient sacerdotal vestments, with rich gold
borders and fringes, some carrying a censer
and some a gold vase or something similar.
Their footmen were like Levites, whose
torches resembled ancient candelabra. The
third car represented the consulship of
Titus Manlius Torquatus, consul after the
end of the first Carthagenian war, and who
governed so that Rome flourished in virtue
and prosperity. This car, decorated with
many fine ornaments by Pontormo, was drawn
by eight fine horses, preceded by six pairs
of senators on horseback in togas covered
with a gold web, accompanied by lictors with
the fasces, axes and other instruments of
justice. The fourth car, drawn by buffaloes
dressed as elephants, represented Julius
Caesar triumphing for his victory over
Cleopatra, on a car painted with his most
famous deeds by Pontormo. Six pairs of
men-at-arms in rich and shining armour
accompanied him, having gold fringes, and
with their lances at their sides. Their
half-armed footmen carried torches in the
form of trophies of different kinds. The
fifth car, drawn by winged horses like
griffins, had Augustus, the ruler of the
universe, accompanied by six pairs of poets
on horseback crowned like Caesar with laurel
and dressed according to their provinces.
Each poet bore a scroll inscribed with his
name. On the sixth car, drawn by six pairs
of heifers richly caparisoned was the just
Emperor Trajan, before whose car, richly
painted by Pontormo, rode six pairs of
doctors of law, with togas down to their
feet and cloaks of ermine, such as they
anciently wore. The footmen carrying torches
were scribes, copyists and notaries with
books and writings in their hands. After
them came the car of the Golden Age, richly
made, with. many figures in relief by Baccio
Bandinelli and beautiful paintings by
Pontormo, among which the four cardinal
Virtues were much admired. In the midst of
the car was a great globe, upon which lay a
man, as if dead, his arms all rusted, his
back open and emerging the refrom a naked
gilded child, representing the Golden Age
revived by the creation of the Pope and the
end of the Iron Age from which it issued.
The dried branch putting forth new leaves
had the same signification, although some
said that it was an allusion to Lorenzo de’
Medici, Duke of Urbino. The gilt boy, the
child of a baker, who had been paid 10
crowns, died soon after of the effects. The
canzone sung at the masquerade was composed
by Jacopo Nardi; the first stanza ran thus:
Colui che da le leggi alla natura,
E i vari stati e secoli dispone,
D'ogni bene e cagione
E il mal, quanto permette, al mondo dura:
Onde, questa figura
Contemplando, si vede
Come con certo piede
L'un secol dopo l'altro al mondo viene, E
muta il bene in mal e'l mal in bene. 2
From his work for this feast Pontormo won
much advantage obtained in the city. Thus
when Pope Leo afterwards came to Florence
Jacopo Pontormo was much employed on the preparations. With
Baccio da Montelupo, a sculptor of the age,
who made a wooden arch at the top of the via
del Palagio, from the steps of Badia, the
painted some beautiful scenes, which
afterwards suffered from the negligence of
those who had charge of them. One only
remained, a Pallas tuning her instrument to
the lyre of Apollo with much grace. The
excellence of the other scenes may be judged
from this.-history of Jacopo Pontormo bio large oil pastel paintings - history of Jacopo Pontormo oil painting –history of oil painting Jacopo Pontormo Bio by oil pastel painting of large oil pastel painting, large oil paintings Jacopo Pontormo.
In the same festivities Ridolfo Ghirlandajo
was charged to embellish the Pope’s hall,
adjoining the convent of S. Maria Novella,
the ancient residence of the pontiffs in the
city. Being pressed for time, Pontormo
Jacopo was forced
to employ assistance. Having decorated all
the other rooms, Jacopo Pontormo charged Pontormo to do
some frescoes in the chapel 3 where the Pope
heard Mass every morning. Jacopo did a God
the Father with cherubs, and a Veronica with
the face of Christ on a handkerchief, a work
that was much admired though done in such
haste. In a chapel S. Raffaello, behind the
Archives covado of Florence, Jacopo Pontormo painted a
Madonna and Child between St. Michael and
St. Lucy, and two other saints kneeling, and
a God the Father surrounded by seraphim in
the lunette of the chapel. Maestro Jacopo, a
Servite friar, afterwards allotted to him a
part of the Servite cloister, a thing
Jacopo Pontormo had
greatly desired, because Andrea del Sarto
had gone to France and left the work there
unfinished. Jacopo made the cartoons with
great care, but being in poor circumstances,
and as Jacopo Pontormo had to live while striving to
acquire honour, Jacopo Pontormo did two beautiful figures
above the door of the Women’s Hospital,
behind the church of the hospital of the
priests, between the piazza of S. Marco and
the via di Sangallo, opposite the wall of
the sisters of St. Catherine of Siena. These
were Christ as a pilgrim receiving some
women into the hospital, a work that has
always been deservedly praised. At the same
time Jacopo Pontormo painted some pictures in oils for
the masters of the mint on the car of the
Moneta, which goes in procession every St.
John's day, the car being made by Marco del
Tasso. Over the door of the company of la
Cecilia, on the hill of Fiesole, Pontormo
Jacopo 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 works, his desire was greatly
kindled, and Jacopo Pontormo hoped to get Pontormo 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 his work 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 his other works
Jacopo took rank beside Andrea del Sarto
andFranciabigio, who had laboured there.
Jacopo Pontormo finished the task in 1516, only receiving 16
crowns for it. I remember well that
Francesco Pucci allotted to him the
altarpiece of a chapel which Jacopo Pontormo had erected
in S. Michele Bisdomini, in the via de'
Servi. Jacopo executed this with marvellous
style and in brilliant it colouring.
Jacopo Pontormo represents the Virgin seated offering the
Infant Jesus to St. Joseph, who is laughing
in a wonderfully natural manner. Very
beautiful also are the little St. John the
Baptist and two other naked boys supporting
a canopy. Here also is St. John the
Evangelist, a fine old man, and a St.
Francis kneeling, with clasped hands, and
intently regarding the Virgin and Child, so
that Jacopo Pontormo seems to be breathing. No less fine
is St. James at the side. It is the finest
picture ever produced by this rare painter.
4 I think it was afterwards that Pontormo
Jacopo did for
Bartolommeo Lanfredini in Lung Arno, between
the S. Trinita and the Carraia bridges, in a
passage, two graceful boys in fresco above a
door supporting a scutcheon. But Bronzino,
who deserves credence in these things,
declares that they were among the first
things executed by Jacopo. If so, Pontormo
deserves the more praise, for they are of
unequalled beauty.
To continue: Jacopo next did a panel for the
men of 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 Jacopo Pontormo executed some works in
the Pieve at S. Stefano. With Jacopo
Jacopo Pontormo painted a large Martyrdom of St. Quentin to
be sent to the Borgo, but as Jacopo wished
him to win honour, here touched it, and
being unable to leave it, Jacopo Pontormo thus finished
the whole; the picture may therefore be
called his, so that it is no wonder that it
is very beautiful. It is now in the
Observantine church of S. Francesco at the
Rorgo. Another apprentice, Giovanni Antonio
Lappoli of Arezzo, mentioned elsewhere, drew
himself in a mirror while with Jacopo, who
did not think the likeness good, and drew an
admirable portrait of him himself. This is
now at Arezzo in the house of the youth's
heirs. Pontormo also portrayed two of his
friends in one picture one the son-in-law of
Becuccio Becchieraio and another whose name
I do not know. For Bartolommeo Ginori
Jacopo Pontormo did
some hangings for use after his death,
according to a Florentine custom. In the
upper part Jacopo Pontormo did a Virgin and Child on
white taffeta, and the arms of the family
beneath. In the middle of the hangings,
formed of twenty four pieces of white
taffeta, Jacopo Pontormo did two St. Bartholomews, two
braccia high. This new style made all the
others executed before look poor and
insignificant, and led to the large style of
to-day which is very light and less costly.
At the top of the garden and vineyard of the
friars of S. Gallo outside the S. Gallo gate
Jacopo did a dead Christ, a weeping Virgin
and two cherubs in the air, in a chapel in a
line with the entrance. One of the cherubs
holds the cup and the other supports
Christ's head. On one side is St. John in
tears, with his arms open, on the other St.
Augustine in the episcopal habit, leaning
sadly and thought- fully on his pastoral
staff, contemplating the Saviours death. For
M. Spina, familiar of Giovanm Salviati,
Jacopo Pontormo did the latter's arms, who had been created
cardinal by Pope Leo, 5 in a court opposite
the principal door of the house, with the
red hat and two cherubs, of great beauty and
much valued by M. Filippo Spina as
Pontormo's work. Jacopo also did the wood
decoration for some apartments of
Bierfrancesco Borgherini in conjunction with
other masters, notably the history of Joseph
in small figures of great beauty, on two
chests. But his best work, which shows his
genius in the vivacity of heads, composition
of figures, variety of attitudes and beauty
of invention, may be seen in this chamber of
Borgherini, 6 a Florentine nobleman, on the
left of the side entrance. It is a
representation in small figures of Joseph in
Egypt receiving his father Jacob and all his
brethren. Among these figures Pontormo
Jacopo introduced
Bronzino, his pupil, then a child, at the
foot of the scene, seated on some steps,
with a basket, a marvellously life-like and
beautiful figure. If this picture had been
large I venture to say that it would not be
possible to match it for grace, perfection
and excellence, and artists consider it
Jacopo's best work. No wonder then that
Borgherini valued it or that great men
wished him to sell it to present to lords
and princes.
Bierfrancesco having withdrawn to Lucca
because of the siege of Florence, Giovanni
Battista della Palla, who desired the
ornaments of this room, with other things to
be taken to France to present to King
Francis in the name of the Signoria, induced
the gonfaloniere and Signori to take it and
pay the wife of Pierfrancesco; But when
Jacopo Pontormo went to the house the lady con- fronted him.
"Do you venture to come here, vile bagman,''
she said, "to rob the decorations of
noblemen and deprive the city of its richest
possessions to adorn foreign countries
hostile to us I do not wonder at you, who
are a base-born man and the enemy of your
country, but I marvel that the magistrates
permit such abominable rascality. This bed,
which is the object of your lust for money,
is my marriage-bed, in honour of which my
brother-in-law Salvihad all this decoration
prepared, and I honour it in memory of him
and for love of my husband, and I will
defend it with my life. Leave this house
with your baggage, and tell those who sent
you that I will not allow any of these
things to be removed from their places, and
if those who trust in such a vile creature
as you wish to present something to King
Francis, let them despoil their own houses.
If you are so rash as to enter this place
again I will teach you the respect due by
such as you to the houses of nobles." These
words of Madonna Margherita, who was
daughter of Ruberto Acciaiuoli, a noble and
prudent citizen, being herself a lady of
spirit, preserved these treasures for her
house.-history of Jacopo Pontormo bio large oil pastel paintings - history of Jacopo Pontormo oil painting –history of oil painting Jacopo Pontormo Bio by oil pastel painting of large oil pastel painting, large oil paintings Jacopo Pontormo.
Giovannimaria Benintendi about the same time
decorated an ante-chamber with pictures by
various artists, imitating Jacopo's work for
the Borgherini. Jacopo, being much
encouraged by praise, did an Adoration of
the Magi, 7 and by dint of much study and
diligence Jacopo Pontormo rendered the heads and other
parts varied, beautiful and worthy of all
praise. For M. Goro da Pistoia, then
secretary of the Medici, Jacopo Pontormo did an admirable
three-quarter figure of Cosimo de' Medici
the elder, 8 now in the house of M.
Ottaviano de’ Medici, in the possession of
his son M. Alessandro, a youth of holy life,
learned, and a worthy son of his father and
of Madonna Francesca, daughter of Jacopo
Salviati, and aunt of Duke Cosimo. By these
works, especially the last, Pontormo had won
the friendship of M. Ottaviano, and Pontormo
Jacopo was
commissioned 9 to paint the two ends of the
great hall of Poggio a Caiano, where the two
round windows are, from the usual in such
ceiling to the floor. Wishing to do better
than a place and in competition with the
other painters engaged there, Jacopo showed
himself over anxious, as Jacopo Pontormo kept doing and
effacing his things, though Jacopo Pontormo was always
making new discoveries for the embellishment
of the work. Thus Jacopo Pontormo represented a
countryman seated with a pruning-knife in
his hand for Vertumnus, executed with great
beauty, and some infants there are very
life-like and natural. In his Pomona and
Diana on the other side Jacopo Pontormo perhaps involved
their draperiestoo much, though the whole
work is beautiful and much praised. But
meanwhile Leo died, and the work was left
unfinished, like many others at Rome,
Florence, Loreto and elsewhere, when the
world lost that true Maecenas. On returning
to Florence Jacopo did a St. Augustine
seated and giving the benediction, with two
beautiful nude infants flying in the air.
This is over an altar in the little church
of the sisters of St. Clemente in the via di
S. Gallo. Jacopo Pontormo also completed a Pieta' with
some nude angels, a beautiful work, highly
valued by the Ragusan merchants, for whom
Jacopo Pontormo did it. It contained a fine landscape,
mostly copied from a print of Albert Durer.
Jacopo Pontormo also did a Virgin and Child with some
cherubs, now in the house of Alessandro
Neroni, and another Madonna, different in
style, for some Spaniards, which Bronzino
was commissioned to buy for M. Bartolommeo
Panciatichi at a sale many years after.
In 1522, when the plague broke out in
Florence, so that many fled to escape the
infection, Jacopo took the opportunity to
leave the city. The prior of the Certosa, a
house built by the Acciaiuoli, three miles
from Florence, wished to have some fresco
paintings at the corners of a large and
beautiful cloister surrounding a lawn, and
gave them to Jacopo, who readily accepted
the work, and went there, accompanied by
Bronzino only. Enjoying the quiet and
solitude so dear to him, Jacopo thought it a
good opportunity to study and to embellish
and vary his style. Not long before a good
number of delicate engravings by Albert
Durer had come to Florence and among others
some scenes of the Passion of Christ, of the
utmost perfection in beauty, variety in the
costumes and invention. Jacopo proposed to
make use of them in the cloister, expecting
thus to give satisfaction to himself and to
most of the Florentine artists, who with one
accord praised these engravings. Jacopo
therefore sought to endow his figures with
the expressions, vigour and variety
possessed by those of Albert, and thus lost
the natural sweetness and grace of his first
manner by exchanging it for the German
style, so that, though his later works are
beautiful, his figures lack their former
excellence and ace. At the entrance to the
cloister Jacopo Pontormo did Christ in the Garden, the
darkness illuminated by the moon, so that it
seems almost daylight. As Christ prays,
Peter, James and John are sleeping, a
marvellous imitation of Durer. Not far off,
Judas is bringing the Jews, with a curious
expression like that of all the soldiers,
who are done in the German style, so that
they excite our compassion for the artist,
who took such pains to learn what others
avoid, abandoning a good style which pleased
everyone. Was not Pontormo aware that
Germans and Flemings come to learn the
Italian style which Jacopo Pontormo made such efforts to
shake off as if it was bad? Next this is
Christ led before Pilate, the Saviour
displaying the humility of His innocence
abandoned to wicked men, and Pilate's wife
her compassion and fear of the divine
judgment, and, as she pleads for Christ to
her husband, she regards Him with a pitying
wonder. Pilate is surrounded by soldiers,
German in costume and expression, and anyone
who did not know the artist might suppose
this the work of an ultramontane. It is true
that in the distance there is a servant of
Pilate mounting some steps, carrying a basin
and jug to wash his master's hands, very
life-like, and showing something of Jacopo's
old style. For a Resurrection in another
corner Jacopo had the caprice to change his
colouring, his brain always evolving new
things and Jacopo Pontormo made it so sweet and good that
if Jacopo Pontormo had adopted another style than the
German the work would have been most
beautiful, and the soldiers who are in a
sleep in various attitudes, like death
seeming unsurpassable. Jacopo Pontormo continued in
another corner with Christ bearing the
Cross, followed by the people of Jerusalem,
the two naked thieves going before, between
the executioners, some of whom are on foot
and some mounted, with ladders, the title of
the cross, hammers, nails, ropes and other
tools. Behind a hillock is the Virgin with
the Maries weeping as they regard Christ,
who has fallen to the ground, while the Jews
are beating Him and Veronica offers Him the
handkerchief, accompanied by Old and young
women weeping at the Saviour's sufferings.
This scene proved much better than the
others, perhaps because Jacopo recognised
the harm done to his style by his study of
German work, or because Jacopo Pontormo had been warned
by friends. Some naked Jews and heads of old
men are finely executed in fresco, although
Jacopo Pontormo has pre- served the German style for the
whole. In the other corners Jacopo Pontormo continued
with the Crucifixion and Deposition from the
Cross. But Jacopo Pontormo left them, intending to do
these last, and did instead a Deposition in
the same style, but with harmonious
colouring. Besides a beautiful Magdalene
kissing Christ's feet, two old men
representing Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus, although in the German style,
have the most beautiful expression
imaginable, with downy beards and soft
colouring.
As the quiet of the Certosa pleased Jacopo,
Jacopo Pontormo devoted several years to this work, and
when the plague was over and Jacopo Pontormo had returned
to Florence, Jacopo Pontormo continued to frequent the
place, and obliged the friars in many ways.
Among other things Jacopo Pontormo did the portrait of a
lay brother then living, and aged one
hundred and twenty, over a door leading into
the chapel, so well executed and so
life-like that it alone excuses Pontormo for
his fancies when in that lonely place far
from men. For the prior's chamber
Jacopo Pontormo did a
Nativity, with a light on Christ's face in
the darkness, thrown by Joseph holding a
lantern, of the same order of ideas that
Jacopo Pontormo derived from the German prints. Let no one
blame Jacopo for imitating Albert Durer
because many painters have done it and do so
still. But Jacopo Pontormo did wrong in adopting that
stiff style for everything, the draperies,
expression and attitudes, which should be
avoided when borrowing the ideas, as
Jacopo Pontormo had
a graceful and beautiful modern style. For
the guest-chamber Jacopo Pontormo did a large canvas in
oils, without apparent effort, of Christ
with Cleophas and Luke, of life-size, 10
and, as Jacopo Pontormo followed his genius, it proved a
marvelous success, for among the servants
Jacopo Pontormo introduced the portraits of some friars whom
I have known, making marvellous likenesses.
Bronzino, while his master was thus engaged,
pursued his study of painting, being
encouraged thereto by Pontormo, who loved
his pupils. Without ever having seen
colouring in oils, Jacopo Pontormo did a fine nude of St.
Laurence on the gridiron on the wall over
the cloister door leading to the church,
showing signs of the excellence to which
Jacopo Pontormo afterwards attained, and delighting Jacopo,
who already foresaw his future success. Not
long after, Ludovico di Gino Capponi having
returned from Rome, and having brought the
chapel in S. Felicith which Brunnellesco
erected for the Barbadori, on the right on
entering the church, resolved to have it
richly decorated. Jacopo Pontormo accordingly consulted
his friend M. Niccolo Vespucci, a knight of
Rhodes, who, being a friend of Jacopo,
praised his genius, so that Ludovico
allotted the chapel to him. Jacopo Pontormo built a
screen and shut off the chapel for three
years. On the vaulting Jacopo Pontormo did God the Father
surrounded by the four Patriarchs, and at
the four circles at the angles Pontormo
Jacopo did the
Evangelists, giving one to Bronzino. I must
add that Pontormo hardly ever made use of
his apprentices, or allowed them to touch
his own work, but when Jacopo Pontormo did, usually for
purposes of instruction, Jacopo Pontormo let them do the
whole alone, as Bronzino did here. In his
works in the chapel Jacopo appears to have
returned to this first manner, but not in
the picture, as Jacopo Pontormo devised a novelty,
executing it in such level colouring that it
is hard to distinguish the lights from the
half-tints, and the half-tints from the
shadows. It represents a dead Christ being
carried to the sepulchre, with the Virgin
and the other Maries, in an utterly
different style from the first, showing how
his brain was seeking for new fancies and
was not content with holding fast to, one.
The composition and colouring are altogether
different from the painting of the vaulting,
and the four Evangelists, in a different
style, are much better. On the window wall
are the Virgin and the angel annunciating,
showing his curious ideas and how Pontormo
Jacopo never
rested content. While Jacopo Pontormo was engaged upon
this work Jacopo Pontormo would not allow even the patron
to see it, in order that Jacopo Pontormo might do it in
his own way, and when it was finally
uncovered, without his friends knowing
anything about it, all Florence marvelled.
For a chamber of the same Ludovico Pontormo
Jacopo did a
Madonna in the same style, and represented a
daughter of his, a very beautiful maiden, as
St. Mary Magdalene. Near the monastery of
Boldrone at the junction of the Cestello
road with the one that mounts the hill to
Cercina, two miles from Florence, Pontormo
Jacopo did in
a tabernacle Christ on the Cross, the Virgin
weeping, St. John the Evangelist, St.
Augustine and St. Julian, all in the German
style, for Jacopo Pontormo had not yet rid himself of the
fancy, and not unlike those done at the
Certosa. For the nuns of St. Anna at the S.
Friano gate Jacopo Pontormo did a panel of the Virgin and
Child, St. Anne behind, St. Peter, St.
Benedict, and other saints. 11 The predella
in small figures represents the Signoria of
Florence going in procession, with drums,
fifes, mace- bearers, commendatories, and
the rest of the household, because the panel
was commissioned by the captain of the
palace. While Jacopo was engaged upon this,
Silvio Passerini, cardinal of Cortona, was
sent to Rome, with Alcssandro and Ippolito
de' Medici, by Clement VII., and Ottaviano
the Magnificent,to whom the Pope recommended
them, employed Pontormo to paint their
portraits 12; Jacopo Pontormo did excellent ones,
although Jacopo Pontormo did not depart much from his
German style. With Ippolito Jacopo Pontormo drew a
favourite dog called Rodon, making it appear
alive. 13 Jacopo Pontormo also drew Bishop Ardinghelii,
afterwards cardinal, and for his friend
Filippo del Migliore Jacopo Pontormo painted a Pomona in
his house in the via Larga, where Pontormo
Jacopo seems
to be attempting to throw off his German
style somewhat. Gio Battista della Palla,
observing Jacopo to be daily becoming more
famous and not having succeeded in getting
his paintings and those of others to send to
King Francis, resolved to send the king
something by Pontormo, as Jacopo Pontormo knew his
Majesty desired it. Jacopo Pontormo at length succeeded
in inducing him to do a fine Resurrection of
Lazarus, one of his best works, and it was
sent among others to King Francis. The heads
were very beautiful, and Lazarus reviving
from the dead is marvellous, having the
green about the eyes and dead flesh at the
ends of his feet and hands. In a picture of
one and a half braccia for the nuns of the
hospital of the Innocenti, Jacopo Pontormo did the
history of the eleven thousand martyrs
crucified in a wood by order of Diocletian,
14 containing a cavalry battle and fine
nudes, and some cherubs in the air shooting
arrows at the executioners. The emperor is
also surrounded by some fine nudes going to
their death. This picture, admirable in
every part, is now greatly valued by Don
Vincenzio Borghini, master of the hospital,
and a former friend of Jacopo. Pontormo
Jacopo made one
like it for Carlo Neroni, with the martyrs
only and the angel baptising, and Carlo's
portrait. At the time of the siege of
Florence Jacopo Pontormo drew the portrait of Francesco
Guardi, dressed as a soldier, a fine work.
On the cover of this work Bronzino painted
Pygmalion praying Venus to make his statue
live, as we read in the poets. At this time,
after long toil, Jacopo obtained what
Jacopo Pontormo had
long desired, a house of his own, where
Jacopo Pontormo could live as Pontormo
Jacopo pleased, for Jacopo Pontormo bought one
in the via della Colonna, opposite the nuns
of S. Mariadegli Angeli. Whcn the siege was
over, Pope Clement directed Ottavianode'
Medici to have the hall of Poggio a Caiano
completed. Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto
being dead, the care of it was entirely
entrusted to Pontormo. After making his
scaffolding, Jacopo Pontormo began on the cartoons, but
in the midst of his ceaseless fancies
Jacopo Pontormo did
not begin to work. This might not have
happened if Bronzino had been near, but
Jacopo Pontormo was then working at Imperiale, a place of
the Duke of Urbino, near Pesaro, and
although daily summoned by Jacopo Pontormo
Jacopo could
not leave his post. When Jacopo Pontormo had decorated a
vaulting at Imperiale with a fine nude
cupid, the Prince Guidobaldo, who knew the
youth's skill, commanded him to paint his
portrait. But as the prince wished to be
painted in some armour which Jacopo Pontormo was
expecting from Lombardy, Bronzino was forced
to stay longer than Jacopo Pontormo intended. Meanwhile
Jacopo Pontormo painted the case for a harpsichord, which
greatly delighted the prince. Bronzino
afterwards completed the portrait, greatly
to the satisfaction of the prince.-history of Jacopo Pontormo bio large oil pastel paintings - history of Jacopo Pontormo oil painting –history of oil painting Jacopo Pontormo Bio by oil pastel painting of large oil pastel painting, large oil paintings Jacopo Pontormo.
Jacopo wrote so many times that at length
Bronzino went, but could not succeed in
inducing his master to make anything but
cartoons, in spite of the entreaties of
Ottaviano the Magnificent and Duke
Alessandro. One of these cartoons, most of
which are now in the house of Ludovico
Capponi, represents Hercules crushing
Antaeus, another Venus and Adonis, and a
sheet of nudes playing ball. Sig. Alfonso
Davalo, Marquis of il Guasto, having
obtained a cartoon of a Noli metangere by
means of Fra Niccolo della Magna, by
Michelagnolo, tried every way to induce
Jacopo to execute it in painting, for
Buonartoti had said that no one could do it
better. This work, when completed, was
considered marvellous for the grandeur of
Michelagnolo's design and the colouring of
Jacopo. When Sig. Alessandro Vitelli, then
captain of the guard at Florence, had seen
it, Jacopo Pontormo made Jacopo do him another from the
same cartoon and had it placed in his house
at Cittadi Castello. It being seen how
highly Michelagnolo esteemed Pontormo and
how excellently the latter executed the
designs of the former, Bartolommeo Bettini
induced his friend Michelagnolo to make a
cartoon of a nude Venus with a cupid kissing
her, to be painted by Pontormo and put in
the middle of a room of his, in the lunettes
of which Bronzino had begun to paint Dante,
Petrarch and Boccaccio, intending to
represent the other Tuscan lyric poets
there. Jacopo executed this cartoon at his
ease, in a style known to all the world, so
that I need not stop to praise It. These
designs led Pontormo to consider the style
of Michelagnolo, and Jacopo Pontormo resolved to imitate
it so far as Jacopo Pontormo was able.
Jacopo Pontormo then saw his
mistake in letting slip such work as that of
Poggio a Caiano, and Jacopo Pontormo blamed for it a long
sickness and finally the death of Pope
Clement, which stopped everything there.
Jacopo had done a portrait of Amerigo
Antinori, a youth very popular in Florence
at that time. The portrait being universally
praised, Duke Alessandro intimated to Jacopo
that Jacopo Pontormo desired a large one of himself. For
greater convenience Jacopo made the for-
trait on a half-sheet of paper with as much
care as an illumination, and besides being a
good likeness it contains every requisite it
of a good painting. From this, which is now
in Duke Cosimo's wardrobe, Jacopo copied
another portrait of the duke holding a pen
and drawing a woman's head. The duke gave
this to Signora Taddea Malespina, sister of
the Marchioness of Massa. The duke, wishing
to reward Jacopo, told his servant Niccolo
da Montaguto to get him to ask what Pontormo
Jacopo wanted and it would be granted. But so great
was the pusillanimity, respect or modesty of
this man that Jacopo Pontormo only asked for enough money
to redeem a mantle which Jacopo Pontormo had pawned. When
the duke heard this Jacopo Pontormo laughed, and gave him
50 gold crowns and the offer of a pension,
though Niccolo had hard work to make him
accept it. Jacopo having finished the Venus
from Bettini's cartoon with marvellous
success, it was not given to Bettini for the
price which Jacopo had promised, but was
taken out of Jacopo's hands by some
fortune-hunters, almost by force, out of
spite to Bettini, and then presented to Duke
Alessandro, the cartoon being restored to
Bettini. When Michelagnolo heard this
Jacopo Pontormo was
sorry for his friend and bore a grudge
against Jacopo, who, though Jacopo Pontormo received 50
crowns from the duke, cannot be said to have
defrauded Bettini, for Jacopo Pontormo had only obeyed
his prince's command. But some say it was
Bettini's fault for wanting too much. With
this money Pontormo had a chance of
repairing his house. Jacopo Pontormo began to build, but
Jacopo Pontormo did not do anything of importance. Thus,
though some say Jacopo Pontormo intended to spend a great
deal for his state and make a convenient and
artistic abode, yet it has rather the
appearance of the dwelling of a fantastic
and solitary man than a well-considered
house. The room where Jacopo Pontormo slept and sometimes
worked was approached by a wooden ladder
which Jacopo Pontormo drew up after him, so that no one
could come up without his knowledge or
permission. But what aroused more
dissatisfaction was that Jacopo Pontormo would only work
when Jacopo Pontormo wished, and being often requested to
do things by noble- men, and notably on one
occasion by M. Ottaviano de' Medici,
Jacopo Pontormo would not serve them, but would then begin
something for some plebeian instead at a low
price. Thus Rossino, a clever mason,
received from him in payment for some
building a beautiful Madonna, upon which
Jacopo took as much pains as the mason did
over his work. Rossino also succeeded in
obtaining from Jacopo a fine portrait of
Cardinal Giulio de Medici, copied from one
by Raphael, and also a beautiful crucifix.
But though Ottaviano bought this from
Rossino as a work of Jacopo, it is certain
that it is by Bronzino, who did by himself
while with Jacopo at the Certosa, although
it remained in Pontormo's possession, I do
not know why. These three paintings are now
in the house of M. Alessandro de' Medici,
Ottaviano's son. But although these
proceedings and this solitary life of
Pontormo's are blameworthy, it is easy to
excuse him, and Jacopo Pontormo might well do the works
which Jacopo Pontormo liked and leave the others without
blame. No artist is bound to work except
when and for whom Jacopo Pontormo pleases, and
Jacopo Pontormo alone
suffers from his course of action. As for
solitude, I have always heard that it is the
friend of study, but even if it were not, I
do not think that we ought to blame one who,
without offending God and his neighbour,
lives after his own fashion in the way best
suited to his temperament.
But to return to the works of Jacopo. 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 work 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 Pontormo 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 work 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 work 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. Jacopo Pontormo then shut himself
up and continued the work at his ease,
endeavouring to surpass the work at Careggi,
which Jacopo Pontormo had not done entirely by himself.
Jacopo Pontormo could easily do so, for
Jacopo Pontormo received 8
crowns a month from the duke, whom Pontormo
Jacopo drew,
young as Jacopo Pontormo was, at the beginning of the
work, with Donna Maria, his mother. The
scaffolding having stood for five years, and
no one being able to see what Jacopo had
done, the lady became angry and one day
commanded that it should be pulled down. But
Jacopo had been warned, and obtaining some
days' grace Jacopo Pontormo retouched where
Jacopo Pontormo thought it
necessary. Jacopo Pontormo then devised a canvas to cover
it when the quality was not there so that
the air should not damage it, as had
happened at Careggi. Great expectations had
been raised, as it was thought that Jacopo
would have surpassed himself and produced a
stupendous work. However, the work did not
altogether realise these expectations, for,
although many particulars are good, the
figures are out of proportion and their
attitudes seem strange and ill regulated.
But Jacopo excused himself by saying that
Jacopo Pontormo did not like the place, because, being
outside the city, it was exposed to the fury
of the soldiers and other accidents.
However, the air and time are gradually
destroying it, as Jacopo Pontormo did it in oils on dry
lime. In the middle of the vaulting Pontormo
Jacopo did
Saturn with the sign of Capricorn, and Mars
Hermaphroditus in the signs of Leo and
Virgo, with some flying cherubs like those
at Careggi. Jacopo Pontormo then did large female
figures, almost nude, of Philosophy,
Astrology, Geometry, Music, Arithmetic and a
Ceres, with small circular scenes in various
tints appropriate to the figures. But
although all this labour did not give great
satisfaction, at least much less than was
expected, the duke expressed himself as
pleased and employed Jacopo at every
opportunity, for the artist was much
esteemed by the people for his numerous
beautiful works in the past. |
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