Maniera

Joseph in Egypt, photo courtesy of Wikipedia CC

            Jacopo da Pontormo, who lived from 1494-1556, was the epotime of a Mannerist painter.  His compositions manipulate nature in figure and setting.  Pontormo’s compositions are often confusingly busy, with lack of harmony or traditional focal points.  Paintings such as Joseph in Egypt (1515) are meant to tell biblical stories, but do so in a befuddling manner with no traditional foreground, background or middle.  The story is not told chronologically, but instead laid out all at once before the viewer’s eyes.  The figures wear contemporary clothes while the architecture harkens back to Classical Antiquity.  The architecture itself serves no purpose other than to help create a sense of depth and to add an interesting complexity to the work.

Deposition from the Cross, photo courtsey
of Wikipedia CC

                 

            Although his paintings are a far cry from the symmetry of the Renaissance, Vasari states that “in every one of Jacopo’s works…there will not be something good and praiseworthy.  His figures are complex, twisted in dramatic movements, and display his understanding of manipulation.  His complex architectural structures, though out of place, are often interesting and distinctive.

Pontormo also utilizes color in an extroirdinary way, such as in his 1526-28 Desposition from the Cross.  This particular painting holds a beautiful array of pastel blues and reds.  Though the proportions and use of natural space are entirely manipulated, the color stands out most on his figures.  An interesting aspect of the composition of Ponrotmo’s Desposition is the subtle spiral the figures of the piece create.  Crowded into the front of the image and taking up the entire canvas, there is no traditional or defined setting for the painting.  Thus, the complexity and harmony of the way the figures relate to each other is a large part of what makes this painting remarkable.