Pontormo in Florence. The Mannerism after the Renaissance

If you were asked to make a list of the greatest Florentine painters of the Renaissance which names would you include?

Some of them immediately spring to mind, such as Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo. Some others come soon after, like Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Sarto, Beato Angelico, il Verrocchio, Andrea del Castagno. But the there are some that come at the end and sometimes risk to be excluded, being overshadowed by the fame of ‘the greatest’.

One of these artist is Jacopo Carrucci. Jacopo was born in a place called Pontorme, in the city of Empoli (and that’s why he is known as ‘Pontormo’) and moved to Florence when he was young. He was soon appreciated by the great artists of the time and had the opportunity to work in the most important workshops.

Jacopo became an innovative painter, introducing a new artistic language and totally changing the classic compositional schemes. He gave rise to what is now called the “Mannerism”, a new style that was built on the traditional Renaissance standards, mixing to them some modern elements in order to reach a new level of pictorial complexity.

2014 is dedicated to Pontormo and that’s why the painter is the protagonist of two exhibitions:

1. Pontormo e il suo seguito nelle terre di Empoli (Pontormo and his legacy in the lands around Empoli)
   When: in corso – fino al 2 marzo 2014
   Where: via Pontorme 97, artist’s birthplace and in piazzetta San Michele Arcangelo, the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, in Pontorme, city of Empoli (FIorence)

2. Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. Diverging Paths of Mannerism
   When: 8 March – 20 July 2014
   Where: Strozzi Palace, piazza Strozzi, Florence

Travel Tips:

In Florence you can find many works by Pontormo. Two of the most famous frescos are in well-known churches of Florence, SS.ma Annunziata and Santa Felicita and some of his paintings can be seen at the Uffizi Gallery, at the Galleria Palatina (as the one in the picture, Adorazione dei Magi) and the Accademy Gallery.