Appel à communication : « Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Court Artists in Turmoil »

Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Court Artists in Turmoil

A one-day conference organised by Andrea M. Gáldy with Lauren Johnson  and held at the British Institute of Florence on 4 April 2014 to  accompany the exhibition Pontormo and Rosso. The Diverging Paths of  Mannerism. The exhibition curated by Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali  will run from 8 March-20 July 2014 at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi.  Call for Papers

Jacopo Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci) and Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni  Battista di Jacopo di Gasparre) trained with the Florentine painter  Andrea del Sarto in the early years of the sixteenth century. During  these politically turbulent years after the French invasion and the  cacciata of the Medici  diverse Florentine governments for and against
the Medici rose and fell whilst two Medici popes ruled over an increasingly rebellious Christendom.

Rosso eventually left Florence for Rome and, after the Sack of the Eternal City, moved to Northern Italy and finally to France worked at the court at Fontainebleau. Pontormo stayed in Florence apart from a visit to Rome. Sponsored by some of the leading families of Florence, such as the Capponi and the Borgherini, he also received intermittent patronage by the Medici. Eventually he became of the main artists at Cosimo I de’ Medici’s developing court during the early years of the young duke’s rule. Rosso (with Primaticcio) founded the School of Fontainebleau, whereas Pontormo established a « dynasty » of
Mannerist court painters through his successors Agnolo Bronzino and Alessandro Allori.

Both Rosso and Pontormo were responsible for the development of a new painterly style, the early maniera, which was much influenced by the art of Michelangelo. Religious reform and violent political events, such as the Sack of Rome and the siege of Florence by imperial troops in 1530, have been used to explain the radical departure from High
Renaissance art. As young men Rosso and Pontormo set out to revolutionise art; their religious works of art, in particular, were
considered to be either highly original or downright controversial.

This one-day conference seeks to explore the oeuvre of the two artists, surviving as well as lost, with a special focus on the works of art brought together for display at the show at Palazzo Strozzi in spring 2014. This conference is intended as an interdisciplinary forum for discussion in which Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino specialists will present new research alongside experts from other fields who wish to take their findings to the art of Early Florentine Mannerism.

Please apply with a short abstract and bio (max. 200 words each) to the organisers by 15 December 2013 at RossoandPontormo@gmail.com.