Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci, usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance. He is famous for his use of twining poses, coupled with ambiguous perspective; his figures often seem to float in an uncertain environment, unhampered by the forces of gravity.
Illustration from Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari, 1568 edition
Visitation, 1514–1516; Fresco; 392 x 337 cm; SS. Annunziata, Florence
Visitation, 1528–29, Church of San Francesco e Michele, Carmignano
Joseph in Egypt, 1515–1518; Oil on wood; 96 x 109 cm; National Gallery, London
Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century.
In Parmigianino's Madonna with the Long Neck (1534–1540), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, highly stylized poses, and lack of clear perspective.
Mannerism role-model: Laocoön and His Sons, an ancient sculpture, rediscovered in 1506; now in the Vatican Museums. The artists of Mannerism greatly admired this piece of sculpture.
Collected figures, ignudi, from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling
Copy after lost original, Michelangelo's Battaglia di Cascina, by Bastiano da Sangallo, originally intended by Michelangelo to compete with Leonardo's entry for the same commission
