This article was first presented as a postgraduate seminar lecture at All Souls, Oxford in 1995 and follows a lecture on the Borgherini panel paintings - it was therefore written for an informed audience who had the benefit of slide projected images

Last week we saw how Pontormo approached a painted narrative cycle for a private patron in a domestic context. Roughly four years after he completed the Borgherini panels (1515-18) Pontormo was asked to paint another series of scenes on a religious theme but in a wholly different context. From painting in oils on pieces of decorative furniture he went to painting frescoes on the walls of a monastery with figures larger than life. 

VASARI

Vasari saw the Borgherini panels, especially the 'Joseph in Egypt', as the most beautiful works Pontormo had ever achieved. Only two pages onward in his Life of Pontormo Vasari begins a solemn lament that one of Florence's greatest artists has lost his senses and taken up painting in the unattractive German manner. 

"It moves anyone looking at the figures to pity the simplicity of that man, who sought with so much effort and patience to learn what others flee and try to lose". (p.254)

Vasari tells us quite correctly, that plague broke out in Florence in 1522 and that Pontormo took up the commission from the monks and escaped the city in the company of his young assistant Bronzino. Pontormo had been asked to paint scenes from Christ's Passion in the lunettes of the corners of a great cloister the chiostro grande that had recently been completed. The monks' cells opened onto the cloister and the scenes would provide fixed points of contemplation for the inhabitants of the monastery, a constant daily reminder of their faith and of their duty to God. 

We are not sure in which order Pontormo painted the frescoes and we are not even certain of their locations within the cloister as they were detached in 1955 for an exhibition in Florence and unfortunately, record was not made of their original positions. The frescoes are now housed in the museum of the Certosa (charter-house). 

Vasari tells us that the silence and solitude of monastic life suited Pontormo's inclinations and nature and it seems he stayed there more or less permanently for at least three years returning in 1525 to Florence to paint the Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicita. Even then, Pontormo returned frequently to the Certosa and this is consistent with record of payments made to the artist up until the end of 1527. 

Vasari begins his account of the frescoes by stating that the meditative atmosphere at the monastery led Pontormo to search for a new form of artistic expression in order "to show the world that his paintings had come to express greater perfection" - somehow suggesting that Pontormo's quest for artistic excellence was akin to a spiritual vocation. Vasari goes on to explain that Pontormo found a creative saviour in Durer whose remarkable woodcuts and engravings would prove to be the source of inventions that Pontormo would assimilate into his frescoes. 

DURER'S INFLUENCE  ON PONTORMO

Vasari is not opposed to this in principle and his main argument is that Pontormo did more than just borrow inventions from Durer; rather, he is guilty of abandoning the Florentine style and wholeheartedly embracing the Northerner's German style. As an ardent advocate for the supremacy of Florentine art, this act of Pontormo's seemed to Vasari only to be explained by some sad form of lunacy. 

The actual prints that Vasari suggests Pontormo was inspired by were produced by Durer as three separate series depicting Christ's Passion, two in woodcut and one with engravings on copper. The subjects and sizes vary between each three Passions and they were widely circulated in both book form and as singular prints. The so-called Large Passion was completed by Durer circa 1500, followed by the Small Passion completed around 1509. Durer also produced an Engraved Passion which took him some twelve years to execute and which was published in full around 1513. 

COMPARISONS TO DURER'S "PASSION"

Unfortunately, looking for comparisons between Pontormo's frescoes and Durer's prints can prove frustrating, as the frescoes are much damaged and so many details are illegible. Luckily, Jacopo da Empoli painted a series of excellent copies in rectangular form probably when he was staying at the monastery in 1583 and these copies are now essential for our understanding of Pontormo's original intentions. 

FRESCO I  - CHRIST IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
But evenso, the quotations from Durer are not immediately apparent if one looks only at correlating scenes from either the Large Passion, the Small Passion or the Engraved Passion. For Pontormo was evidently very familiar with not only all three Passions, but he seemingly knew singular prints by Durer on other subjects and he has cunningly borrowed figures and motifs from all sources. To illustrate this point, in what might be called the first scene in the cycle, 'Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane', Pontormo's sleeping apostle on the right appears  in the same scene of Durer's small passion; the sleeping apostle on the left appears to the right in Durer's large passion and yet the Christ  is most similar to the figure of Joachim in an unrelated woodcut of c. 1504.  Once the actual figures have been accounted for, it is also possible to see that the overall composition and method of relating the narrative are generally close to Durer as well. 

Nobody can accuse Pontormo of carrying out slavish copies of Durer's prints but it is undeniable that he has taken Durer's designs and reworked them to suit the broader format of the lunette. In the 'Garden of Gethsemane' even though Pontormo has brought the figures of Judas and the crowd up to the forefront of the picture, his main figures still inhabit their space more freely than they do in Durer's cramped confined illustrations. 

Vasari is critical of this fresco saying that Pontormo had so successfully imitated Durer's style that :

"the charm of his own early style, which had been given to him by Nature, full of sweetness and grace, was greatly changed by that new intensity and effort, and much damaged by his chance encounter with that German style."

FRESCO 2 - CHRIST BEFORE PILATE

The second fresco in the cycle is a 'Christ Before Pilate' which was positioned adjacent to the Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Vasari is much happier with this scene which in his opinion is only spoiled by the soldiers which "are so characteristically German in the expressions on their faces and in their clothes, that anyone not knowing by whose hand it was, would be sure it was painted by Northerners." He is moved by the sensitive depiction of Christ as a tragic figure of innocence betrayed by the wicked and in the compassion expressed by the woman delivering a message from Pilate's wife "Have nothing to do with that innocent man...". (Vasari mistakenly identifies this woman as "Pilate's wife"). Lastly, the figure of a cupbearer descending the stairs at the top of the picture is singled out as possessing "a certain something" of Pontormo's favoured "old style". 

Again, the references to Durer are manifest but not straightforward. The composition owes more to the Christ Before Herod in Durer's Small Passion.  Pilate proffers the same outstretched hand as Herod and Christ is seen in profile, with his head slightly bowed and long hair straggling over his shoulders, his hands are bound in rope and he stands resigned to his fate. Pontormo has reversed the print, included more figures and expanded the architectural setting of Pilate's palace as it appears in Durer's small Christ Before Pilate. He has retained the emphatic gestures of the elders putting forward their case to Pilate and it is true that Pontormo has copied the exact costume and notably the conical hats of these figures in Durer's print. 

The elegant nonchalant soldiers who peer out of the picture at us, do not feature in either of Durer's prints but have their prototype in the halberdier to the right of Durer's Ecce Homo of his large passion. Pontormo's ingenuity comes through not only in the anecdotal treatment of the group of soldiers who appear to be distracted by an incident occuring out of view but by the paired halberdiers poking up from the bottom of the picture. Such figures appear in none of Durer's prints and by placing these half figures so close to the viewer, Pontormo enhances the effect of the great height and grandeur of the palatial setting as the eye travels up to the central figure of the cupbearer who seemingly floats down a staircase. 

Nor does Durer include the graceful female presence of the messenger, but Pontormo has used her and the two elders to create a trio of swaying figures across the picture plane that form an animated chorus behind the lone figure of Christ. It is an altogether softer, almost balletic composition. Gestures are more refined and practically all tension has been soothed away from the scene unlike the trial scenes of Durer where men shout and gesticulate wildly and the atmosphere is one of controlled violence. 

FRESCO III - THE ROAD TO CALVARY

The third scene, a Christ on the Road to Calvary is presumed by Vasari to have been painted toward the end of Pontormo's stay at the monastery for he writes 

"either because he had been warned by friends, or because this one time Jacopo realized, belatedly, the harm to his own sweet style his study of the German has done, this scene came out much better than had the others." 

We can be thankful that Pontormo was not charmed by Durer's Veronica, an unappealing woman with an unflattering headdress and shapeless robes. He chose instead to replace her with a beauty who shows her naked shoulder, elegant head and neat waist, swathed in a colourful gown.

The exchange between Veronica and Christ is more intimate than in Durer's interpretation, as Christ reaches out to bring the white cloth to his face, his hand almost touches hers and the act assumes more intimacy and tenderness. Durer's Veronica is a matronly type and thus her gesture is translated as a maternal act rather than the impulsive, passionate act of a young woman. Her pose is reminiscent of representations of the Magdalene washing the feet of Christ and the emphasis on a beautiful young female amid this ugly scene serves to heighten the poignancy of the moment which is reflected in the faces of Christ's tormentors who stop to observe Veronica's gesture. 

Pontormo obviously studied both the large and the small woodcuts of Durer's Passion as he has borrowed elements from each : 

Christ's pose with the awkward twist of the body as he looks up at Veronica whilst still shouldering the cross, is taken from the large woodcut. The man in the skull cap who tugs at the rope around Christ's waist is derived from a figure in the large woodcut where he wears a similar contemporary costume of jacket with slashed sleeves and hose. 

One direct "steal" from Durer in this composition is taken from the figure in the centre whose head protrudes between the rungs of a ladder he carries on his shoulders. This horizontal intercession breaks up the dominance of verticals created by the crosses and the lances of the Roman guards and the general surge upward of the spiralling procession as it approaches Golgotha. 

Like Veronica, Pontormo also transforms Simon the Cyrenian shown in Durer's print as an old bearded man who stoops to alleviate the weight of the cross from Christ's back. In Pontormo's version Simon undergoes a metamorphosis into a muscular half-naked figure of youth, strength and virility. I would argue that a tendency to beautify these figures is contrary to Vasari's notion that Pontormo had abandoned his own style. Surely the fact that Pontormo romanticized Durer's figures to this extent is evidence that he saw the prints primarily as an iconographical source and not the basis for a stylistic revolution. Perhaps if Vasari had stood in front of the frescoes with Durer's prints in hand, he would not have come to the same conclusions he did.

Pontormo's broader working surface in the fresco has allowed for more figures to play a prominent role in the narrative. The two thieves that were crucified with Christ are now seen leading the procession and men carrying their crosses bring up the rear. The Virgin and the three Maries are seen at the pinnacle of Golgotha already wailing and mourning Christ's fate. Durer's overcrowded, narrow compositions have not allowed for these additional moments to be included and the action can only be focused on three main figures with an anonymous jumble of figures filling the rest of the space. 

FRESCO IV - GOLGOTHA

The next scene transports us to the top of Golgotha and a scene of Lamentation heavily populated by women. Only three male figures are present, bent over and employed in practical tasks. It is left up to the women to appeal to the beholder for pity with pathetic gestures and anguished expression.

Although the fresco bears an initial passing resemblance to Durer's large woodcut Lamentation, none of the figures correspond to those painted by Pontormo. Even his preparatory sketch for the figure of the dead Christ does not seem to have been copied from any of Durer's prints but strangely enough, it is very similar to an altarpiece in Nuremberg by Durer dated to 1498. 
Vasari comments little on this fresco pausing only to comment that the German style is still prevalent, that the Magdalen was very beautiful and the expressions of Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus were the most lovely faces of old people to be seen anywhere. Vasari also places this as the last of the five frescoes completed by Pontormo for the Certosa. If so, it would appear that by this stage, Pontormo's dependence on Durer was weakening and his powers of invention at least in the arrangement of his figures, were reasserting themselves. If one still wants to scan the prints avidly for associations, one can see that Pontormo's Lamentation is a loose synthesis of both Durer's Lamentation and Deposition woodcuts. 

FRESCO V - THE RESURRECTION

The final fresco we will look at is the Resurrection which Vasari applauded primarily for the colours which he found exciting and "new", as it appeared to him that Pontormo had changed his palette for this scene of triumph over death. He also comments on the degree of naturalism in the attitudes of the sleeping guards but maintains it is a great pity that Pontormo stuck to the German style. This is a good one for playing "spot the detail" in Durer's prints as Pontormo irreverently appropriates bodies from all Durer's treatments of the subject and places them in a collapsed heap of dosing soldiers unaware of the miraculous event taking place. Even Christ himself is directly drawn from the large woodcut where Durer's risen saviour hovers above the tomb, already ascending into heaven.  Pontormo has his Christ hover above the body of a sleeping Roman and the tomb is nowhere in sight although this fresco has been reduced in size as it was apparently cut down to make way for an entrance door at a later date.  Da Empoli's copy does not clarify this detail either as it appears to show just a large patch of rough ground. The powerful burst of light radiating from Christ's head and the way his outstretched arms seem to push away the forest of weapons are also clearly derived from Durer.

SUPPER AT EMMAUS (SEE IMAGE AT TOP OF THIS PAGE)

Vasari mentions that Pontormo was to paint two more scenes for the cloister walls but that they were never executed. However he did paint another scene from the Passion, a Supper at Emmaus on canvas for the guest-house of the Certosa (now in the Uffizi). To Vasari, this painting represents a return to sanity for Pontormo. He considered it a great success as it contained portraits from life and was painted "without straining at all nor doing violence to nature". 

"He has trusted his own genius" (instead of Durer's) Vasari rejoices although perhaps he would not have been so enthusiastic if he had seen Durer's small woodcut of Christ in Emmaus which bears a striking resemblance down to the actual hat worn by the figure on the right. 

(The eye, by the way, is supposed to have been added much later, possibly by da Empoli.) 

CONCLUSION

Although I can understand Vasari's response to the frescoes of the Certosa, I believe that his concentration on secondary characters such as soldiers and jews in the scenes and his dislike of the foreign costumes they wear, prejudices him against recognizing Pontormo's own innovations and seeing that Pontormo never actually abandoned his own style in favour of another's. 

If the main criticism is that the images are too like Durer's prints not only in content but in style then it is necessary to carefully compare the two. Once this has been done, it becomes apparent that Pontormo has a tendency to overlook the intensity of emotion that assaults the viewer of Durer's Passion scenes and to sweeten everything. He tones down the drama in an aim to present a quieter, more poignant rendering as opposed to one that stirs in you a deep outrage at the trials and tortures Christ undergoes. We hear less of the brutish crowd jeering and jostling Christ and step into a more spiritual and poetic plane. His Roman sholdiers are altogether too fine to be thugs and his Christ too mute and subdued to match Durer's wretched victim. 

Vasari himself describes Jacopo, "as someone with no set mind who was for ever dreaming up new things", and it is surprising that he could not simply have viewed the Certosa frescoes as another legitimate exploration into the unknown by an artist who was driven by a compulsion to constantly rejuvenate his painting style. Pontormo's next major work mentioned in the Vita is the decoration of the Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicita. In connection to the Deposition altarpiece painted there, Vasari wrote "it is clearly evident that Pontormo's brain was for ever investigating new concepts and strange ways of working, and would never rest content with things as they were." Again, with the two figures of the Annunciation, he continues "both are so contorted that they demonstrate that, as I said, his bizarre and fantastic brain never rested content". 

These comments on Pontormo's unfathomable brain explain Vasari's strong criticism of his work in the post-Borgherini panels period. He simply did not understand Pontormo the man nor Pontormo the artist and yet, he always recognized he was a great artist being generous enough to admit that when the Capponi Chapel was revealed, "all of Florence marvelled at it". 

Vasari's feeling of bewilderment at Pontormo is crystallized by his reaction to the frescoes Pontormo painted for the main chapel of San Lorenzo in Florence 

"it does not seem to me that in any place at all did he pay heed to any order of composition, or measurement, or time, or variety in the faces, or changes in the flesh colours, or in brief, to any rule, proportion or law of perspective; and instead, the work is full of nude figures with an order, design, invention, composition, colouring, and painting done in his won personal way, with so much melancholy and so little pleasure for the beholder, that I am resolved, since even I do not understand it though I am a painter myself, to let those who see it judge for themselves."

He no longer blames what he considers "strange" and "weird" in Pontormo's art upon any German influence but has become resolved to the fact that it is Pontormo's unique brain and way of seeing the world that begat this extraordinary style. 

Vasari admired Pontormo but never understood him. Pontormo died at the age of seventy-five leaving the San Lorenzo frescoes unfinished and by this time, Vasari's psychological alienation from the artist was complete, having studied the frescoes it seems for some time, he concluded "I truly believe I would drive myself mad to become embroiled with this painting."