Sample Pages: Pontormo at San Lorenzo The Making and Meaning of a Lost Renaissance Masterpiece

Pontormo at San

Art, History, Ritual

For Friends, Students, Teachers and Thomas and Jules

introduction 8

Chapter One Life and Death in the Choir 14

Chapter Two Reversals of Fortune 64

Chapter Three Saint Lawrence’s Acts 104

Chapter Four Cycles of salvation and resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Chapter Five Then and now: Pontormo’s place in history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

List of i llustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Appendix – Tables 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Document Register 298 index 381

i ntroduction

Why is it so satisfying to see mystery in the Florentine painter Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–1557)? From the time of Giorgio vasari (1511–74), who wrote the first biography of Pontormo and assessment of his career, his work and its interpretations have seemed to diverge from the conventional or expected.1 The very inaccessibility of Pontormo is part of the mystique of this marvelous artist. He eludes us in a satisfying way, thereby fulfilling his destiny as anticipating the Post-Romantic, the Post-Freudian, and Expressionistic ideals of the troubled artistic genius.2

This is a study of the most extensive commission Pontormo ever received, a project to depict scenes from Genesis and other imagery in the choir of San Lorenzo at Florence.3 if the paintings had not been destroyed in 1738 they could have cemented his position as one of the greatest Florentine painters of the first half of the sixteenth century—with a hitherto unnoticed impact on the art of the seventeenth century.4 Pontormo’s frescoes covered the entire choir area behind the high altar of San Lorenzo, one of the most important churches of Florence (Fig. 1). Not only was San Lorenzo the first cathedral of Florence and thus an august monument of Early Christianity, but also it was the parish church of the Medici family. From the rear courtyard of the Medici Palace they could see its façade and belfry. For generations the Medici had devoted time and money to the construction, expansion, renovation, and decoration of the church. The location of Pontormo’s paintings, the choir of San Lorenzo, was under the patronage of the Medici family, and was the area where the canons performed their duties many times a day. As this study aims to show, both of these factors had a bearing on the choice of imagery in the choir.

Scholars have debated if patrons and artists intended specific meanings in works of art. Pontormo’s commission to paint the main chapel of San Lorenzo simmers with intention. it was compact (carried out in a limited number of years by a single artist); deliberate (the specific area was ear-marked for decoration at least twice before); and supervised by a patron, Duke Cosimo i de’ Medici (1519–74), who is known to have used art as a vehicle of propaganda. Evidence presented here will suggest that the imagery in the choir was intended to have the greatest resonance possible over the longest imaginable period of time—eternity.

in an effort to reconstruct the lost paintings, i have chosen to recount the story of Pontormo’s frescoes as a work of art in a living context. Hence this is also a study of how what Pontormo painted reverberated with the rest of the church. it has never been noticed that Pontormo’s paintings were designed to exploit the architecture and natural light in San Lorenzo. Moreover, they were in dialogue with the high altar, the burial sites of the Medici, the common graveyard for the parishioners, and other works of art throughout the church. Throughout the traditional long Easter season, which extended almost three months from Septuagesima Sunday through Lent and Holy Week, the frescoes were constantly at the center of the canons’ activities. Pontormo’s paintings were closely connected to the ceremony and meaning of the only architectural monument by Michelangelo (1475–1564) in Florence that was visible to the general public, a reliquary tribune over the main door to the basilica.   1.

view of the choir of San Lorenzo. Photo: Archivio di San Lorenzo

5. Fra Bartolomeo, Saint Anne altarpiece, left incomplete 1517, Florence, Museo di San Marco. photo: Soprintendenza speciale per il polo museale Fiorentino

known if pontormo could have utilized the Laurentian Library for the choir project. the library was left unfinished and essentially abandoned until 1548 when work in it resumed.101 Yet after that date some portion of it was still was free and could be used for working on large cartoons as Bronzino would subsequently do in the 1560s. however, it can be definitively shown that pontormo had access to additional space located adjacent to the right flank of San Lorenzo. a house with a workshop described as in the piazza of San Lorenzo “on the corner of the square directly across from Via della Stufa,” was being rented by his assistant, Bastiano del Gestra. the history of the ownership of the property is complicated, but at the time pontormo was working in San Lorenzo it was owned by the olivetan order.102 the property, consisting of a domicile with a shop below it, was owned originally by a member of the Inghirami family. the Inghirami family wielded a substantial amount of influence at their parish church of San Lorenzo, where they had a chapel and burial plots (see Fig. 16). Moreover, the other supervisor of works at San Lorenzo, or operaio, with ottaviano de’ Medici during pontormo’s project was Francesco di Girolamo Inghirami (see Docs. 81, 234, and 344).103 Inghirami and his relatives lived in the palazzo to the right of the church on Via de’ nelli at its intersection with Via della Stufa and extending

11. the author engulfed in pontormo’s cartoon for the Expulsion. Cartoon: Cara anderson Boiler

Cosimo. the symbolic reunion of the duke’s parents every year from 1544 on was poignant, for the remains of his father were not even in Florence; nevertheless the Masses for the Dead would serve to help release their souls from purgatory.154

Desiderio, Verrocchio, and Sogliani

the second way in which Duke Cosimo took over his mother’s interests was in completing, revising, upgrading, adding, and maintaining other monuments in the church associated with the earlier Medici. Cosimo’s attention to the church was not limited to monumental projects such as the new Sacristy, but encompassed a variety of objects and works of art related to the Medici and their legacy. Before his intervention Donatello’s two bronze pulpits had been moveable and indeed one was incomplete (for the possible location of one the pulpits see Fig. 16).155 Frequently only one pulpit was actually in the church and other pulpits constructed of wood were substituted. as essential elements of church

17. agnolo Bronzino Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo, 1545. photo: Soprintendenza speciale per il polo museale Fiorentino

33. Jacopo da pontormo, Christ in Glory, GDSU 6609F, 1540s, Soprintendenza speciale per il polo museale Fiorentino

34. Jacopo da pontormo, Expulsion, 1540s, Dresden, KupferstichKabinett, inv. nr. C 65

left hands, when it would be more traditional for these actions to be carried out with their right hands. In the end, de tolnay was almost ready to accept the print as it was, but he found one piece of evidence that tipped the balance: the coat-of-arms of Spain on the drapery covering the lower portion of the rear wall of the choir was reversed. thus he concluded that the print must be flipped for us to see the choir and pontormo’s frescoes in their proper orientation (Fig. 35).23 From 1950 onwards it was taken as a given that to “view” pontormo’s choir, one had to invert or “flip” the print. Not one scholar thought otherwise. 24

the royal arms of Spain summarized philip’s realm at the time of his death, including among other territories, the arms of Castile, Leon, aragon and portugal (Fig. 36). In the upper left quarter Castile and Leon are represented by castles and lions, the castles in the upper left and lower right, the lions in the upper right and lower left (or in heraldic language, Castles 1 and 4; Lions 2 and 3). to the upper right are the arms of the house of aragon and Sicily; aragon (Catalonia) is represented by the vertical red stripes, and aragon-Sicily by the combination of stripes and black eagles in a saltire cross on the right half. In the lower left quadrant is the house of austria (red and white horizontal bars), with blue and gold diagonal lines extending to the bottom, and in the lower right quarter are Burgundy (in the red band with fleur-de-lis), with Brabant, represented by the large gold lion.

35. Detail of Fig. 32, of pontormo’s paintings in the upper register, inverted

examples of the royal coat-of-arms can be found on the royal Seal of philip, which is preserved in numerous examples, including that on the final page of his official Last will and testament; a hieronymus wierix engraving of the Savior entrusting the insignia of Power to Philip II in the presence of the Pope; the frontispieces of numerous publications sponsored by or for philip II; the royal escutcheon hovering above the famous gilt bronze funerary effigies by pompeo Leoni of philip and his family in the Basilica of San Lorenzo el real, the escorial, and one of his widely disseminated official coins, the real de ocho or pieces of eight (Fig. 37).25 If the coin is compared to the printed escutcheon of philip in the funeral print, they match when the print is viewed as it was printed (Fig. 38). It has to be admitted that somehow de tolnay made an error because the coat-of-arms in the print is not reversed. It is shown correctly.26 while de tolnay questioned only the coat-of-arms, it is worthwhile pointing out some additional details that prove that the print is correct as printed. In the funeral print the three walls of the choir are covered with magnificent draperies decorated with skeletons standing on fictive marble lintels and displaying philip’s arms. In his Essequie della Sacra Cattolica Real Maesta del Re di Spagna D. Filippo II.d’Avstria celebrate dal Serenissimo D. Ferdinando Medici, Gran Duca di Toscana nella Città di Firenze descritte da Vincentio Pitti, the author Vincentio di Carlo pitti meticulously described these items, and indeed every decoration inside and outside the church.27 Below the royal coat-of-arms on each choir wall was a horizontal oval containing philip’s impresa, a device or personal image with a textual motto (Fig. 38). pitti’s description is, “on the end wall was the personal impresa of philip II.…which was the Chariot of the Sun in the mid-sky, glowing, with the motto: IaM ILLVStraBIt oMNIa.” this impresa, which was said to have been based on an idea from the monarch himself, was widely used throughout his reign (Fig. 39).28 Girolamo ruscelli, in his compendia, Le Imprese Illustri con expositioni et discorsi, dedicated to philip and published in 1566, explained the significance of this emblem: the Divine Light of Christianity will spread its illumination over everything. the image and its motto embodied philip’s self-image as the dispenser of the one true Faith throughout his ever-expanding empire.29 In the print of the choir (Fig. 38) the oval impresa just below philip’s coat-of-arms can easily be distinguished, with the chariot and its rider at the left, the four horses with their flailing legs at the right. the impresa of the back wall of the choir was part of a carefully orchestrated ensemble. again, pitti’s published account provides a detailed description. on the two side walls the same image was repeated, but with different Latin mottos: orIeNS eX aLto (the day/orient shall come upon us from on high); and NeC oCCIDet tra (Nor shall it/ the Sun fall further).30 the three emblems portrayed philip as Sun-King, alluding to the idea that the sun never set on his enormous realm. pitti explained that the series moved around the choir from the rising sun in the east, peaked as the chariot of the sun passed over the earth on the altar wall, then set below the horizon in the west.31 For the three imprese to form a sequence they must have all moved in the same direction. In the print, the crested chariot on the end wall moves

39. Jacopo da trezzo, Bronze Medal of philip II, 1555, whereabouts unknown

Christ

The

Putti

Martyrdom

the discovery that the print is correct as it was printed means that pontormo’s five extant drawings for the frescoes of the Expulsion and Christ in Glory are the reverse of the lost paintings based on them. the new reconstruction raises several questions. are all of the extant drawings to be inverted? Is there any evidence for pontormo inverting his designs? why are we missing the “correct” ones?

pontormo did indeed study his figures in mirror images for the San Lorenzo commission. a Study for Moses, in which his body faces left, Uffizi 6582F (Fig. 45),57 is in the opposite direction from the drawing in the refined modello, in which his body faces the right (Fig. 46).58 In another drawing, on the upper half of the sheet Moses is shown twice (Fig. 47).59 the topmost figure on the sheet is Moses with his knees facing left; while below him is another version of Moses, now facing right. on the same sheet is another example of how pontormo worked on creating his figures for the choir commission. In the lower left corner Cain is in the act of murdering abel. the tiny figure of abel, positioned behind Cain, has his head to the left and his knees to the right. he is inverted compared to his position in the more finished modello in which his knees turn to the left (Fig. 48).60 Using the tiny version of abel with the knees pointing to the right, pontormo worked up a detailed figure study of abel (Fig. 49). however, despite being a finished study,

44.

Stories of Abel & Cain Noah and the Ark Moses

The Temptation

Christ in Glory and as Judge Creation of Eve The Expulsion

Four Evangelists Sacrifice of Isaac Labors of Adam & Eve

The Deluge Universal Resurrection of the Bodies of the Elect and the Damned

Purified Souls Rising

Purified Souls Rising

Skeleton with taper Skeleton with taper

Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence Souls arise to receive their Immediate Judgment

Portrait of Pontormo

Putti with chalice and crown

43. reconstruction of the subjects in the choir at San Lorenzo. Diagram: James Mchugh

Detail of Fig. 32 of left side wall with Noah and the Ark

Stories of Cain & Abel

Noah and the Ark

Sacrifice of Isaac Labors of Adam and Eve

Four Evangelists

The Temptation

Expulsion Purified Souls Rising

Purified Souls Rising

Skeleton with taper Skeleton with taper

Creation of Eve

in Glory and as Judge

with chalice and crown Universal Resurrection of the Bodies of the Elect and the Damned

The Deluge Souls arise to receive their Immediate Judgment

of Saint Lawrence Portrait of Pontomo

Moses

from 1550 onward the blue sopracielo was augmented with curtains (cortine) and tapestries (arazzi) sent over from the Medici furnishings in the palazzo Vecchio. In 1551 four “cortine” were “used to decorate the sacrament of holy thursday” (Docs. 303 and 306). In 1552 two tapestries and four curtains were transported from the palazzo Vecchio to San Lorenzo the tuesday before easter and returned three days after easter (Docs. 337 and 341).88 In 1553 four red curtains with green stripes came from the Guardaroba (Doc. 357). again in 1555 the “cortine” were brought and returned to the palazzo Vecchio (Docs. 403, 405, 409 and 412). In 1556 the tuesday before easter “le cortine per il sacramento” came and went as usual (Docs. 424 and 426). In several entries the hangings are described as being red silk with gold ribbons, and some bore ducal arms (see Docs. 403, 405, 435, 436). the two tapestries delivered in 1552 that were “used in holy Week” arrived on the Monday after palm Sunday and returned to the Guardaroba two days after easter (Docs. 337 and 341). It cannot be absolutely ascertained whether the tapestries hung in the Corpus Domini Chapel or elsewhere in the church. But perhaps is possible to hazard a guess which tapestries they were. Nearly every tapestry in the Medici collection in these years has been identified.89 the logical candidates would be two tapestries after designs by francesco Salviati, the Lamentation and the Resurrection. they are similar in size and are almost square in shape, betraying their original function as altarpiece covers.90

100. francesco Salviati, Lamentation, 1549, uffizi arazzi inv. 1912–1925, n. 773. photo: Soprintendenza speciale per il polo museale fiorentino

140a. peter paul rubens, Fall of the Damned, c.1620. Munich, alte pinakothek no. 320

in both the Louvre and Stockholm sheets the figure’s hovering hand grasps the remnant of a tree trunk and his foot rests on the arm of another dead man. this clarifies the position of the figure in the De Ganay manuscript, which is excerpted from context so that his arm floats with no visible support. the presence of a tree stump and water in the Louvre copy proves that this figure comes from pontormo’s Deluge fresco. Directly below the old man clinging to the tree in the paris copy is the face-down man who was likewise an object of fascination for many artists (see figs. 136–37). the derivation of the old man clinging to a tree from pontormo’s design may not seem obvious. it is not simply in reverse. in his sketch after the drowning man rubens has drawn a figure that is inverted from that in the others. While the chest of the man is visible in rubens’s drawing, his back and right shoulder are visible in the Louvre and Stockholm copies after the frescoes. in rubens’s drawing, as the old man reaches out to grasp the truncated branch, the inner part of his arm is visible; but the outer part of his arm is seen in the two copies. has rubens rotated the figure in his mind before drawing it? it should be recalled that pontormo not only inverted his drawings and but also used sculptural models, which he rotated to create different views, as he did for the group of Cain and abel struggling (fig. 47). Or, had pontormo repeated an inverted example of the old man reaching out in another section of the frescoes, and that is the image that rubens reproduced? the two old men at the top of rubens’s sheet show rubens’s own penchant for reversing motifs. another possibility worth considering is that that rubens may have seen actual models or drawings by pontormo while in florence.110

147. Jan de Bisschop, Paradigmata Graphices variorum Artificum, 1671, pl. 12. photo: London, British Museum