PONTORMO. Jacopo Carucci (commonly known as JACOPO DA Powroamo), Italian painter: b. Pontormo, near Florence, 1494; d. Florence, 1556. He was a pupil of Andrea del Sarto and painted history and portraits. At 13 he was left an orphan and sent to live at Florence as a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci. He also studied under Pietro di Cosimo and Mariotto Alberti nelli. His early work won the approval of both Raphael and Michelangelo, who foretold his future greatness. His pictures are often mistaken for those of Andrea, and the best of them are those produced soon after he had been dismissed from the school of del Sarto who, it is said, had grown jealous of him. He, however, altered his style several times, and took at last to imitating Albert Diirer. His work deteriorated in his latter years and when he admitted the public to see his 'Deluge' and 'Last Judgment.' frescoes which he had painted
in the chapel of San Lorenzo, in the manner of the imitators of Michelangelo, his work met with such bitter criticism that it was white washed over and he is said to have died of mortification. Pontormo remained a master of design to the end of his days, but his coloring, once rich and harmonious, lost all its grace as he neared his three score years. He was a great portrait painter and some of his works in his department have been attributed to Raphael or Andrea del Sarto. His best works are at Florence, but among his finest portraits are 'A Cardinal' (in the Borghese Palace at Rome) ; (Baccio Bandinelli, the Sculptor' (at Milan); 'Portrait of a Boy' (in the London National Gallery). There is a fine 'Holy Family) of his. with life size figures in the Prado Museum, Madrid.