Pontormo and the Florentine Tradition: Nostalgia during the Siege of Florence

A presentation by Bruce Edelstein, NYU Florence

Studying the works of artists of previous generations was an essential part of an artist’s formation in Renaissance Florence. Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557) was no exception to this rule and demonstrated unusual sensitivity to the Florentine tradition throughout his career. However, Pontormo created some of his most important works during the period of the last Florentine republic and the dramatic siege that brought this short-lived political experiment to an end (1527-1530). Both the preparations of the Florentines for their defense and the ensuing siege brought significant destruction to both public and private buildings and, as a result, to the artworks that they contained. Under these trying circumstances, Pontormo appears to have paid even closer attention to Medieval and earlier Renaissance precedents. In this talk, I will consider what occasioned this increased attention to the art of the past and what its significance may have been for Pontormo and his contemporaries in Florence.