Pictured above is a copy of a study of legs by Jacopo Pontormo. I drew mine in graphite pencil on Strathmore paper while the original by Pontormo was done in red chalk. I had mentioned earlier that I do not care for the scratchiness of chalk and I believed I talked about Jacopo Pontormo. Just in case you didn’t know about Pontormo, he was born in 1494 in Empoli, Italy. He was taught by numerous great painters including Leonardo da Vinci and became an important artist in the Sixteenth century. He help develop the expressive style of Mannerism. His work also became a big influence on the later Baroque style, influencing artists like his own student, Bronzino. Pontormo was also greatly admired by other artists at the time. Michelangelo Buonarroti happen to see a painting that Pontormo had done he said “This young man [age 19] will be such an artist, based on what can be seen, that if he lives and continues on, he will exalt this art to the heavens.” High praise indeed. This quote was taken from the “Lives of the Artists” written by Giorgio Vasari. He goes on to write about Jacopo Pontormo’s character. He states that Pontormo was a quite unique person. He was so afraid of death that he didn’t even want to hear it discussed. Varasi also states that he would run away from having any contact with dead bodies but is that really that unique or different. Perhaps in 16th century Italy people loved to hang around dead bodies. Apparently Pontormo would also avoid crowds and kept to himself. He also put so much thought into his work that some days he would just stand and think without painting anything. However he was able to create anything he put his mind to.