Pontormo Rosso Fiorentino: Library of Great Painters Paperback – December 31, 1994

A joyous book filled with the pith and marrow of humanity. It shows us the work of an artist with a rare insight into human motivation. He scrapes off the superficialities of life, and brings us to the meaning and substance of human existence.

I ordered the book because of the current major exhibit in Florence . It was published in 1994. The text is rather dry. Dimensions of the works are in cm. The medium and the support are not specified.I find the book very satisfying.

The book is an excellent starting material for studying the works of the two titans of Mannerism - Jacopo Carucci, detto Pontormo, and Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, detto Rosso Fiorentino.The whole turbulent history of Florence and even Italy at that time is reflected in the biographies of these artists densely narrated but without omissions of important details. Perhaps Rosso's Vita offers even a broader insight, since towards the end of his life in 1530 he moved to France to work for the King Francois Premier, the patron of the arts who gained the taste for art and the prestige it can offer while being a prisoner of the Emperor Charles V in Madrid for eight years. Upon the King's return to France he set to embellish his reign with the most illustrious artists at his court, and as part of this effort he lured Leonardo, who brought with him Mona Lisa which graces the Louvre today, the Italian painting that became the symbol of the French museum.Apart from da Vinci, there were also Benvenuto Cellini in France (ane he speaks about his work for the King in his fantastical autobiography, a great read:My Life (Oxford World's Classics)Rosso Fiorentino in particular worked in Chateau de Fontainebleau together with another Italian artist Primaticcio, decorating the Gallery of Francois Premier:1919 Print Francois Premier Fontainebleau Renaissance - Original Halftone PrintWhen seeing the gallery, one can easily understand why he moved to the North - while in Florence the competition was so stiff that he was forced to work in obscure towns like Sansepolcro, by accepting the offer to work in then barbarous Ile-de-France he had the whole unlimited artistic space all to himself, being lavished upon gifts and privileges by the King!The story reminds of other artists, like Holbein with Henry VIII - a monarch who was Francois Premier contemporary and the main rival, apart from the emperor Charles V; and incidentally, of Titian work for his art patron Philip II (a grandson of Charles V), and of course, of Leonardo himself, who spurned employment opportunity at Isabella d'Este court for the chance to work for the King, not for just a duchess of a small and vulnerable land - a concern that turned out to be vital - let us not forget that the sack of Rome happened in 1527 - an event that scattered artists from Rome across all Italy and beyond. It is due to it we have Venice today as it is, with the help of Sansovino, who was actually on his way to King Francois but stopped in Venice - as Rosso also did. And while Sansovino stayed in La Serenissima for the rest of his life which was to last another 50 years, Rosso moved on to the North. It is remarkable that Rosso Fiorentino, together with aforementioned Italian masters working in France, laid the foundation to the First School of Fontainebleau:Master of the School of Fontainebleau (Sabina Poppäa) Art Poster- 11x17 custom fit with RichAndFramous Black 99 inch Poster Hangers towards what is today French art...Unfortunately, the book does not have a single illustration from that late period of Rosso, while he stayed in the service of Francois Premier for 10 years until he died prematurely from an accident - the wall of the room where Rosso worked collapsed, and his health was irreparably damaged. In those years he had produced huge amount of work, yet he book concentrates only on his Florentine period, and because of that, his oeuvre is less well covered than that of Pontormo, who spent all his life in Firenze.In addition, Rosso has a number of superb portraits, I spent some time in front of his "Bildnis eines jungen Mannes", 1516 in Gemaldegalerie Berlin, it is just as enigmatic as Mona Lisa, but of course, fame and fashion propel only certain pictures to the level of the masses cognition. Nonetheless, I have included three portraits in the picture gallery for this book, and once can easily see that Raphael's Agnolo Doni influenced Andrea del Sarto's Portrait of a Young Man, which in turn transformed into another variation under the Rosso's brush - and his Young Man is marvelous, looking forward to many future male portraits by Bronzino, who was Pontormo's pupil and correspondingly knew Rosso's art very well. I must add that Mona Lisa influenced Andrea del Sarto's portrait even more than Raphael's, and we can see a mix of both Leonardo and Raphael in Andrea's creation; the style was passed on his pupils Pontormo and Rosso, who deployed it in their own works according to their artistic mannerist vision. It is always astounding to contemplate the simultaneous continuity and development of art.The book speaks quite eloquently about Pontormo and Rosso directly influenced by Andrea del Sarto, considering that they worked with Andrea in 1512-1513 in his workshop, and then between 1514 and 1516 on the complex of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. Naturally, it covers the history of Pontormo's Vertumnus and Pomona lunette in Villa Poggio a Caiano, where the artist was working under the artistic direction of Andrea del Sarto, at length - the fresco is the first statement of Pontormo as a genius in his own right; the choice of composition, the dynamics of the figures announce the arrival of Mannerism as an art movement, whose main representative Pontoromo had become. His art developed and evolved from Andrea, but also from Michelangelo and Raphael, whose influence is recognizable in many of his creations, including, for example, his early work St. Michael the Archangel in the church of San Michele in his native Pontorme. But even before these older masters, there were foremost influences of Donatello and Masaccio on both Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. I wish the book would have illustrations of those artists included so that it would be easier to see and appreciate the point of artistic influence. Pontormo's masterpiece "Deposition from the cross" in the church of Santa Felicita in Firenze is extensively covered:FRAMED oil paintings - Jacopo Carucci (Pontormo) - 24 x 40 inches - DepositionIt is interesting to note that Stendhal dismisses Pontormo as a too cold artist compared to Guido Reni; Stendhal's favorite artist was Correggio, who incidentally was born just 5 years before Pontormo and Rosso - in 1489, while Pontormo and Rosso in 1494. Correggio style is certainly softer and gentler; while Rosso Fiorentino especially invented a new plasticity, very energetic and devoid of any sentimentality so dear to the French of Stendhal's generation, or rather, to the Régime Ancien, best represented by rococo artists as Francois Lemoyne, Francois Boucher and Charles-Joseph Natoire, among a few others. These French artists seem to be pupils of Correggio at times, only to be astonished by the 200 years difference between the French and the Italian! But the softness of Correggio was very appealing to the French taste, while the revolutionary use of color by both Pontormo and Rosso was totally different from Correggio, who was quite traditional by subordinating color to form. Correggio's poses are already twisting and flying, as anyone who had seen his cupola fresco in Parma Duomo would always remember, yet his use of perspective is strict and even pronounced, and his figures are so pleasantly fleshy, joyful and indulging in pleasure - while Pontormo and Rosso seem to experiment with the flattened perspective, and their figures attain similar flattened plasticity, providing for a certain sense of anxiety that is totally absent from Correggio's work:Antonio Allegri Correggio Art Print Zeus and Io - 11 x 17 Inch PosterThe Florentine school differs from that of Parma in the same sense as the character of the two cities is so different - Florence is severe and heroic, with harsh climate to match, while Parma is soft, lush and mellow... It is charming that Stendhal admired Correggio passionately, but alas his fascination with that manner prevented him from appreciating Sandro di Mariano, detto Botticelli, while he was still able to fall in love with Filippo Lippi - as did Gabriele d'Annunzio after him. It took Marcel Proust to fill the void that Stendhal created by immortalizing Sandro's Daughter of Jethro as an ideal beauty expressed in Odette, and it would be appropriate to compare Rosso Fiorentino work done on the same subject to bring this review to closure:Wallmonkeys Peel and Stick Wall Decals - Moses Defends the Daughters of Jethro by Rosso Fiorentino - 24"H x 17"W Removable GraphicOverall, it is a book to inspire studying these superb artists further; illustrations miss the date of creation - you'll have to look for it in the text, which is often written in a convoluted manner that is not the easiest to follow, but it can only add to the sense of learning and discovery.