History of Art:The High Renaissance, Mannerism

The Triumph of the City

The High Renaissance

&

Mannerism

(Renaissance Art Map)

See collections:

Rosso Fiorentino

Pontormo

Andrea del Sarto

ROSSO FIORENTINO'S "DEPOSITION" AND PONTORMO'S "VISITATION"

Both students of Andrea del Sarto, Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo Pontormo were among the most ardent anti-classical interpreters of Renaissance developments, and particularly those of Michelangelo. The Deposition by Rosso and the Visitation by Pontormo show how the restless Florentine culture could take the striking colours and daring compositional formulae of the Sistine chapel and apply them to works of extreme formalism. Sometimes their use was highly figurative, as in the expressive moments of the Deposition, and at others they were employed in fluent and transparent chromatic fields, as in the Visitation. In the metaphysical setting of Rosso's altarpiece, the figures are positioned in sharp planes of light and shade. Pontormo's painting appears to have a double image, the onlookers repeating the features of the protagonists in a frontal view, Florentine painting was reaching a disconcerting crisis with this juxtaposition of reality and illusion, and search for spiritual meaning.

Rosso Fiorentino
(b Florence, 8 March 1494; d ?Fontainebleau, 14 Nov 1540).

Italian painter and draughtsman, active also in France. He was a major Florentine Mannerist , whose art is both elegant and emotionally intense. He was influential in Rome, and in Paris and Fontainebleau became one of a group of Italian artists who were instrumental in pioneering a northern, more secular Mannerism.

Rosso Fiorentino
Deposition
1521
Oil on wood, 375 x 196 cm
Cathedral, Volterra

Rosso Fiorentino
Deposition (detail)
1521

See collection:

Pontormo

Jacopo da Pontormo
(b Pontormo, nr Empoli, 26 May 1494; d Florence, 31 Dec 1556).

Italian painter and draughtsman. He was the leading painter in mid-16th-century Florence and one of the most original and extraordinary of Mannerist artists. His eccentric personality, solitary and slow working habits and capricious attitude towards his patrons are described by Vasari; his own diary, which covers the years 1554–6, further reveals a character with neurotic and secretive aspects. Pontormo enjoyed the protection of the Medici family throughout his career but, unlike Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari, did not become court painter. His subjective portrait style did not lend itself to the state portrait. He produced few mythological works and after 1540 devoted himself almost exclusively to religious subjects. His drawings, mainly figure studies in red and black chalk, are among the highest expressions of the great Florentine tradition of draughtsmanship; close to 400 survive, forming arguably the most important body of drawings by a Mannerist painter. His highly personal style was much influenced by Michelangelo, though he also drew on northern art, primarily the prints of Albrecht Durer.

Pontormo
Visitation
1528
fresco
St. Michele, Carmignano

Pontormo
Deposition
Santa Felicita, Florence

Pontormo
Deposition (detail)
Santa Felicita, Florence

See collections:

Rosso Fiorentino

Pontormo

Andrea del Sarto

Discuss Art

Please note: site admin does not answer any questions. This is our readers discussion only.