Jacopo Carucci, who later became known as Jacopo Pontormo or just Pontormo, was born in a place called Pontorme near Empoli in Italy on May 24, 1494. His father, Bartolomeo di Jacopo di Martino Carucci, was a painter. His mother’s name was Alessandra di Pasquale di Zanobi. However, Pontormo was orphaned at an early age.
According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, Jacopo Pantormo was an apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci and afterward of Mariotto Albertinelli and Piero di Cosimo. When he was 18, the artist attended the workshop of Andrea del Sarto, and his influence was apparent in Pantormo's early artworks.
Pontormo generally worked in and around the city of Florence, where the painters and artists had the patronage of the House of Medici. An example of Pontormo's early style was the Visitation of the Virgin and St. Elisabeth which took two years to complete and was finished in 1516.
By the year 1519, Jacopo Pontormo’s name had spread far and wide as a painter of rare talents who managed to perfect the art of depicting emotions in the paintings. The same year, he started to work on the fresco at the country Villa of the Medici located at Caiano, which he finished three years later.
Pontormo had to leave Florence in the year 1522 because the plague broke out in Florence and the rest of the country. The painter went to Certose di Galluzzo. During that time he painted frescos for the Carthusian monastery, depicting the passion and resurrection of Christ.
In the year 1528 he produced his greatest works ever. Among them were the altarpiece at the Capponi Chapel in Florence and the canvas titled The Deposition from the Cross; they remain one of his most famous pieces of work that survives to the present day.
Although many of Pontormo's paintings have been damaged, including the lunnettes for the cloister in the Carthusian monastery of Galluzo, a great number of them have survived and are nom housed at different museums and galleries in Italy as well as other countries in Europe. Jacopo Pontormo shrank away from public life during the last 10 years of his life. His last major work was the frescoes of San Lorenzo, Florence, however, it remained incompleted and was partly damaged. Nevertheless, it showed the profound influence Michelangelo had on him.
Jacopo Pontormo became one of the most influential artist of the 16th century style of Mannerism. The most important artwork of his career was definitely The Deposition from the Cross at the Capponi Chapel, Florence. His paintings became a great influence on his prominent pupil, Bronzino.
Numerous of his paintings can be found in various galleries in Europe and America, as well as in Florence. Today, his works are held in the collections of shunning even Agnolo Bronzino, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, among others.
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
Joseph in Egypt
Visitation
Male Nude
Study of a Woman, possibly Maria Salviati
St. Sebastian
Vertumnus and Pomona
Lady with a Basket of Spindles
The Fall of Adam and Eve
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
Portrait of Francesco da Castiglione
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
Deposition from the Cross
Lamentation
Christ before Pilate
Noli Me Tangere
Portrait of a Youth
Saint Francis
Madonna with St. Francis and St. Jerome
Four Evangelists: Saint Luke
Halberdier
Volta
Portrait of Niccolò Ardinghelli
Visitation
Joseph in Egypt
Joseph Revealing Himself to His Brothers
Punishment of the Baker
Cosimo de' Medici il Vecchio
Madonna with St. Anne, St. Sebastian, St. Peter, St. Benedict and St. Filippus
Birth of John the Baptist
Annunciation
Group of the Dead
St. Quintinus
Volta
The Three Graces
Anatomical study
Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder
Portrait of Two Friends
Leda and the Swan
Two Male Figures Looking in a Mirror and a Putto.
Venus and Cupid
Female Nude
The Holy Family
Portrait of Maria Salviati with Giulia de Medici
Study for Vertumnus and Pomona
Mary with Christ Child and Saints
Christ the Judge with the Creation of Eve
Adam and Eve at Work
Portrait of a goldsmith
St. John the Evangelist
Study for the Deluge
Hermaphrodite Figure
Study of a seated man
Volta
Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap
Four Evangelists
Adoration of the Magi
Portrait of a Young Man (Alessandro de Medici )
Study for the Lunette with Vertumnus and Pomona
Alessandro de' Medici
Portrait of a Young Woman
Portrait of Ugolino Martelli
Portrait of a Musician
Christ Seated, as a Nude Figure
Kicking Player
Portrait of Maria Salviati
Two nudes
Madonna and Child
Female Nude
Study for the Deluge
St. Anthony Abbot
Portrait of Alessandro de' Medici
Volta
The Ascent to Calvary
Study of Two Carthusian Monks
Ten thousand martyrs
Study of the Nailing of Christ to the Cross
Self Portrait
The Deposition
Halberdier
Portrait of Ludovico Martelli
Study of nude
Self Portrait
Resurrection
Madonna, angels and saints
Episode from the life in the hospital
The Agony in the Garden
Joseph Being Sold to Potiphar
Seated Nude with Raised Arm
St. Julian
The Penitence of St. Jerome
St. Matthew the Evangelist
Volta
Study of a Girl Pouring from a Jug
Portrait of a lady in red dress
Last Supper at Emmaus
Four Evangelists: Saint John
Visitation
Study to "Moses Receiving the Tablets of Law"
Scene with cherubs on papal coat of arms
Cosimo I de' Medici
Two Nudes Compared
Study of a Man Wearing a Hat
Study of a Boy Turning His Head
He is described as a melancholy person. During his last years, he became increasingly reclusive and disturbed.
Jacopo Pontormo had a close relationships with his disciple, Agnolo Bronzino, who was like an adopted son to him.
