Jacopo Pontormo

Pontormo was one of the first Mannerist painters, and his work still looks startling: long, twisting figures, strange pastel colours, anxious faces and spaces that do not quite add up.

Born near Empoli, he trained in Florence and worked in the circle of Andrea del Sarto before developing his own restless style. His Deposition in the church of Santa Felicita, with its floating figures in pink and blue, is his best known work. He painted portraits for the Medici, including Cosimo il Vecchio and Alessandro de’ Medici, and his Portrait of a Halberdier is in the Getty Museum. Scenes from the story of Joseph are in the National Gallery, London.

Look at the eyes and hands in his portraits: alert, nervous and very alive.