AP Art History 250: 78. Entombment of Christ, Jacobo da Pontormo

Entombment of Christ. Jacopo da Pontormo. 1525–1528 C.E. Oil on wood.

Entombment of Christ
Jacopo da Pontormo. 1525-1528 C.E. Capponi chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence, Italy. Oil on wood

They inhabit a flattened space, comprising a sculptural congregation of brightly demarcated colors. The vortex of the composition droops down towards the limp body of Jesus off center in the left. Those lowering Christ appear to demand our help in sustaining both the weight of his body (and the burden of sin Christ took on) and their grief.

Form:

·Painted oil on wood
· In a church to the right of the entrance, above the altar, in the Capponi Chapel in Florence

o Right when you come in you are struck with this painting

· Early mannerist style (see below)

o This is important because the chapel is a cubical, very logical space, that is very much in the Renaissance style and there are Renaissance frescos right next to it that show in annunciation

The Mannerist style:

· Term used to describe the art that directly succeeded the Renaissance and preceded the baroque
· Over-elaborate distortion and elongated figures
· Imbalance

o Very different than the perfection of the Renaissance

· Response to the Protestant reformation

Function:

- Altar piece

-Aestheticizes the well-known scene, the Deposition

Content:

· Mournful

o The fresco beside it shows the beginning of Christ’s live (annunciation) and this shows the ending

· Just figures, not much land, packed with people

o This is very mannerist and the completely opposite of the Renaissance

· There is no depiction of a cross so we are not sure as to whether it is the deposition or the entombment
· Unnatural body position of the figure in the left foreground
· Abandons the high Renaissance pyramid balance
· No place for our eye to rest
· Constant movement
· Figures have no weight to their body
· Over exaggerated emotions

o Not emotions of a person, rather symbols of emotions (like masks)

Context:

In the Capponi Chapel of Santa Felicita, Florence.
Frescos clearly in early mannerist style, but chapel is a cubic space that was designed by Brunelleschi in early Renaissance style.
Fresco to the right by Pontormo shows the Annunciation. Powerful juxtaposition; function almost as beginning and end of Christ’s earthly existence.
In pendentives, roundels showing 4 Evangelists.
Mannerism=art of artifice, exaggeration, and emotion rather than Renaissance rationality.

Highlighted rather than hid the contrived nature of art.
Artifice manifested itself through imbalanced compositions, unusual complexity, ambiguous space, departures from convention, and innovative portrayals of traditional scenes.