Jacopo da Pontormo, nicknamed “Rosso Fiorentino” for his red hair, was an early Mannerist painter whose restless compositions and elongated figures broke from High Renaissance ideals. His emotionally... View More

Jacopo da Pontormo, nicknamed “Rosso Fiorentino” for his red hair, was an early Mannerist painter whose restless compositions and elongated figures broke from High Renaissance ideals. His emotionally charged altarpieces and frescoes—such as the Deposition from the Cross—feature twisted poses and unsettling color contrasts.

Influenced by Michelangelo yet fiercely individual, Rosso helped inaugurate Mannerism’s expressive distortions, tension, and ambiguity. His daring formal experiments laid groundwork for successors like Pontormo’s own student Bronzino and the later Florentine avant-garde.