The Deposition (Entombment)
Deposition — Pontormo, 1525-1528
Jacopo Pontormo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Pontormo's Deposition in the Capponi Chapel of Santa Felicita in Florence is the supreme example of Florentine Mannerism and one of the most originally beautiful religious paintings of the 16th century. The large panel (approximately 313 by 192 cm) shows a group of eight figures bearing the body of Christ to the tomb — but unlike traditional Deposition or Entombment paintings, there is no tomb, no cross, no landscape, no ground visible.
The figures float in an undefined space of acid green, pink, and blue — an artificial palette of colours that has no precedent in the Italian tradition. The Christ figure is borne by a young man whose pose echoes ancient Greek sculpture (the ephebe type); a weeping woman buries her face in grief; the figures move in a swooning, weightless dance of grief that seems to exist outside historical time.
Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557) was Andrea del Sarto's pupil and the founder, with Rosso Fiorentino, of Florentine Mannerism — the distinctive Florentine response to the crisis of the High Renaissance ideals after the Sack of Rome in 1527. The Deposition was painted for the Capponi family chapel in Santa Felicita between 1525 and 1528, during the period of the Sack; its artificial colour, weightless composition, and emotionally anguished figures have been read as responses to the catastrophe. The chapel also contains the Annunciation fresco by Pontormo (on the side walls, still in situ) and was designed as a unified environment.
The chapel is very small — there is room for only a few visitors. The painting is lit by the windows of the chapel (natural light) and seen from approximately 2 metres away.
The colours — acid green, coral pink, ice blue, pale lavender — are unlike anything in Florentine painting before or after. There is no ground beneath the figures' feet; they float in the composition. The overall effect is of grief made visible as pure colour and movement.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Deposition — Pontormo, 1525-1528. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The acid colour palette — green, pink, blue. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The Christ figure — borne by the young ephebe. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The weeping woman — grief as pure body language. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Capponi Chapel, Basilica di Santa Felicita, Piazza Santa Felicita, Florence (directly behind the Ponte Vecchio on the south side). Open Monday-Saturday; free admission. The chapel is small — respect the quiet.