Italian Mannerist Painter, 1494-ca.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.   Related Paintings of Pontormo :. | Portrait lady | Noli me tangere. | Access map | Sacra Conversazione | Martyrdom of St Maurice and the Theban Legion |
Related Artists:
Jacques Charlier
French Miniaturist, ca.1705-1790
Elizabeth Armstrong
Canadian-born English Painter, 1859-1912
Franz Niklaus Konig
b Berne, 6 April 1765; d Berne, 27 March 1832