(real name, Jacopo Carrucci). Born May 24, 1494, in Pontormo, Tuscany; buried Jan. 2, 1557, in Florence. Italian painter. Representative of the Florentine school.
Pontormo studied with M. Albertinelli and Piero di Cosimo between 1507 and 1512. He was influenced by Michelangelo, especially beginning in the 1530’s, and by A. Dürer. His early works were akin to the art of the High Renaissance masters, such as Andrea del Sarto, with whom he collaborated around 1512. In the 1520’s he became one of the founders of mannerism. Pontormo’s masterly, at times eccentric, compositional skill and sharp powers of observation are manifested with particular power in the frescoes of bucolic allegories in a villa at Poggio a Caiano (1520). Inherent in his later religious compositions, such as Deposition (1526–28, Church of Santa Felicità, Florence), are traits of inner anxiety and excited tension of color. This is also true of his portraits, such as Portrait of a Woman (c. 1543–45, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Also noteworthy is Three Graces, a sanguine (c. 1535–36, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Pontormo’s studies and sketches are remarkable for their unusual expressiveness of contour and flexibility and liveliness of line.