Pontormo exhibition opens at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome
Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo, the celebrated sixteenth-century Florentine master known as Pontormo, is the subject of a major new monographic exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, Il Sole 24 ORE reported. The exhibition gathers loans from across Tuscany and major international museums, presenting a progression of works that culminates with the Deposition from Santa Felicita on the first floor and the Visitation from Carmignano on the second.
The Artistic Scale of the Rome Exhibition
Visitors to the Scuderie del Quirinale encounter the Portrait of a Goldsmith from the Louvre, the Portrait of a Halberdier from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Portrait of Cosimo the Elder from the Uffizi. Curator Cristina Acidini guides the exhibition’s structural focus, opening with an examination of the Capponi Chapel altarpiece in Florence’s Santa Felicita church, an iconic work whose precise title has long generated scholarly debate between a traditional Pietà and a Deposition.
Giorgio Vasari characterized the artist as ghiribizzoso, or whimsical, capturing an umbratile temperament that matched his elaborate draperies, strained tensions, and powerful draftsmanship. Born in Pontorme, Empoli, in 1494 and dying in Florence in 1557, Pontormo bridged the High Renaissance and the birth of the Maniera movement.
Lineage and Technique in Florentine Maniera
Pontormo trained under Mariotto Albertinelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Piero di Cosimo, later collaborating closely with Andrea del Sarto. His artistic output combined narrative ambition with an impulsive dynamism, marked by turbulent color choices and an uneasy balance between abstraction and naturalism—qualities that critic Roberto Longhi identified as foundational nodes of truth. The exhibition highlights the technical virtuosity of a draftsman who won the admiration of Michelangelo and exerted a lasting influence on twentieth-century artists.
The central display pairs the 1525–1528 oil on wood Capponi Chapel Pietà against the 1528–1532 Visitation from the pieve of San Michele Arcangelo in Carmignano, on loan via the Diocese of Pistoia with photography by Antonio Quattrone. These works anchor a career defined by restless execution and deep psychological intensity.
Scuderie Del Quirinale Exhibition Provides Public Access to Pontormo
Museums and collectors worldwide continue to pursue Pontormo’s works due to their enduring popularity and complex art-historical status. The exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale provides public access to dispersed masterworks that define the Florentine sixteenth century.