About this work
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is an oil on panel painting by Pontormo, now in the Uffizi, whose Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe also houses a preparatory drawing for the work. The two theories on its dating are 1534 to 1536 and Antonio Natali's theory of 1529 to 1530. The figure and expression of John the Baptist draws on contemporary works by Michelangelo such as the Medici Madonna Vasari's Lives of the Artists states that Pontormo offered a work on a similar subject the bricklayer Rossino in payment for work on his home, begun in 1529 and only finished in 1534 to 1535 - this is thought to be the Uffizi work.
About Pontormo
Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci, usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance. He is famous for his use of twining poses, coupled with ambiguous perspective; his figures often seem to float in an uncertain environment, unhampered by the forces of gravity.
Where it hangs
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist is in the collection of Uffizi Gallery.
More by Pontormo
Portrait of Cosimo the Elder
Pontormo · 1510
Uffizi Gallery
Untitled
Pontormo · 1527
Scottish National Gallery
The Virgin and Child with St Joseph and St John the Baptist
Pontormo · 1522
State Hermitage Museum