Introducing Bronzino and Pontormo- Reaserch Entry I

Jacopo da Pontormo

(26 May 1494-31 Dec 1556)

     Born with the name Jacopo Caucci, Pontormo was one of the most original and influential Mannerist painters who lived in mid sixteenth-century Florence. Pontormo was the son of a long forgotten painter and was left orphaned at a young age- he was shuttled around under various apprenticeships including time spent with Leonardo DaVinci (Strehlke, 4). He is described as having an eccentric and expressive personality and had protection under the support Medici family. He collected influence from Michelangelo- whose haunting faces and elongated bodies directed a majority of his work (Strehlke, 2; all-art-pontormo). His subjective portrait style did not lend itself to the state portrait… “It was Jacopo who, in recording the appearance of his sitter, first sought to combine a massive imaginative simplicity and dignity of presentation with an intangible evocation of individual character (Strehlke, 2).

Agnolo Bronzino

(November 17, 1503- November 23, 1572)

     Angolo Bonzino, whose original name was Agniolo Di Cosimo, was another Florentine painter whose polished and elegant portraits became outstanding examples of Mannerist painting. He was also orphaned at a young age and found himself working under Jacopo da Pontormo as an apprentice. Bronzino and Pontormo were separated in age by only nine years. His masters’ eccentric style, Michelangelo and Raphael had an overwhelming impact on his artistic style. He too found himself under the protection of the Medici family where he became a court painter. His paintings had examples of great technical proficiency. Some of his courtly works show “preeminent examples of Mannerist portraiture: emotionally inexpressive, reserved and noncommittal, yet arrestingly elegant and decorative” (Strehlke, 5; all-art-bronzino).

     Durring the sixteenth century, Bronzino and Pontormo were amongst the greatest creators of private portraiture. Over the last two decades, a collection held at the Philadelphia Musem of Art has revealed new information about the close relationship between these two artists. The exhibition examines the development and transformation of the painted portrait in early sixteen-century Florence; often in collaboration, they sought a new way of portraying the Florentine man. Jacopo Pontormo's portrait of Alessandro de' Medici Agnolo Bronzino's allegorical portrait of Cosimo de' Medici, serve as the centerpieces of the collection. In both artists work, portraiture is about recognition- who one is or who one wishes to be. The unusual portraits of the Medici embody the cultural concerns- both literary and artistic-- of their time without alluding to their political roles.
“…For Pontormo the human personality exists in a murky void. Attention is focused on the face, and the only detail that is admitted relates to the profession of the sitter… Bronzino, on the other hand, portrays the individual in a setting- a physical setting… and an intellectual setting too.” (Strrehlke, XII)

Jacopo Pontormo's portrait of Alessandro de' Medici                Bronzino's allegorical portrait of Cosimo de' Medici
 
     The collection of paintings and drawings in the Philadelphia Art Museum’s exhibition gives us a unique look into Bronzino and Pontormo’s artistic creations and even more so insight into the intensity of their friendship. Now that Pontormo and Bronzino have been introduced- alongside the context of Strehlkes, :Pontormo, Bronzino and the Medici; The transormation of the Renaissance Portrat in Florence," Reaserch Entry II will dive more deeply into their artistic transformation and the political movements of that time that influenced their growth.

Sources

Strehlke, Carl B. Pontormo, Bronzino and the Medici: The transformation of the Renaissance Portrait in Florence.

http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/pontormo1.html

http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/bronzino1.html