Drawings of Pontormo [Paperback]

The "Drawings of Pontormo" has 44 pages of drawings by the artist. A typical drawing is printed as 6 1/2 by 8 3/4 inches. The book says that it is a first edition, copyright 1986. The pages are 8 1/4 by 11 inches. (Some volumes in the "Master Draughtsman Series" have a larger format.) Each page contains one or two drawings. The drawings are almost all sketches and studies. The collection does contain a self portrait of Pontormo and some of the drawings called "studies" are very refined. The reproductions are monochrome. Each drawing is identified by a title, the media used to create it and the museum or collection that contains it. There is no information about the size of the original drawings. Most drawings are from the Uffizi Gallery and this gallery appears to put a distinctive stamp on them. If these stamps are all the same size, then the drawings in the book are printed to different scales.

A two page introduction by Stephen Longstreet tells us that the artist's name was Jacopo Carucci. He was known as "Pontormo" after the village of his birth. We learn that he was in the school of art called "Mannerism" and that he often drew people's eyes as circular instead of oval. (Web research shows that the writer of the introduction was Chauncey Weiner. He took the pen name "Stephen Longstreet" after the original family name of a grandfather, which was "Weiner-Longstrasse".)

There is a note (printed twice, for some reason) that says "Many thanks are due Mr. Harry Carmean for his invaluable research assistance. The Publishers. " In the Master Draughtsman Series, there is a book about the drawings of Harry Carmean, where we read that Harry is strongly influenced by Pontormo and also likes to draw figures that are "pinched" at the joints.

I rate this book as three stars out of five to indicate that it gives an average amount of information about the drawings of Pontormo. It was relatively inexpensive, so I don't regret buying it.

The pages in the book are not numbered. I don't know if scholars have standardized any set of titles or terminology for Pontormo's drawings. Using the titles given in the book, the drawings are as follows:

Self Portrait
Pen and Bistre Wash over face, Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Portrait Studies of a Boy
Red Chalk, Torso in Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page)

Boy in a Turban
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Studies for the Visormino Altar
Black Chalk, heightened with White on brown paper
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Study for the Deluge
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Study for The Deposition
Black Chalk, heightened with White
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Three Seated Nudes
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Sleeping Boy
Red Chalk, on faint Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Nude Study
Red Chalk
British Museum, London, England

Nude Studies
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Studies for the St. Michele Altar
Red Chalk, Small Foot in Ink
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Study for Vertumus & Pomona
Red Chalk over Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page, this is the drawing on the cover of the book)

Studies for St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page)

Studies for the Supper at Emmaus
Red Chalk
British Museum, London, England

Studies for Joseph II
Red & Black Chalk
Ecole Des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

Study for Joseph III, Three Male Nudes
Red Chalk
Musee Des Beaux Arts, Lille, France
(printed on a half page)

Study for Joseph III
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page)

Two Seated men, one with a Hand Mirror
Black crayon on gray-green paper
Stadelsche Kunstinstitute, Frankfort/Main, Germany

Study for St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page)

Studies for St. Francis
Black Chalk sketches sideways, and on reverse in Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
(printed on a half page)

Portrait Study of a Boy
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

An Old Man Holding a Small Child
Black Chalk
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
(printed on a half page)

A Young Man Holding a Small Child
Black Chalk
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
(printed on a half page)

Studies for the Pieta
Red Chalk, small studies in Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Nude Study
Red Chalk
British Museum, London, England

Nude Study
Black Chalk, heightened with White
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Two Nude Studies
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Three Nude Studies
Red Chalk
The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City, NY

Studies for the St. Michele Altar
Black Chalk, heightened with White, hands in Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Study for Christ in Glory, with the Creation of Eve
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

Studies for the Careggi Loggia
Red Chalk, lightly washed
Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

Studies for Vertumnus & Pomona
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Studies for the St. Michele Altar
Red chalk, Small Foot in Ink
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for the Xisdomini Altar
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Seated Boy
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Study for Vertumnus & Pomona
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for Vertumnus & Pomona
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page, different than the previous drawing)

Study for the Legend of the Ten Thousand Martyrs
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Nude Study
Black, Red and White Chalk
J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City, NY

Study for the Pieta
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Study for a Nailing of the Cross
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Studies for The Birthplace
Red Chalk, and Sketches in Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for Vertumnus & Pomona
Red Chalk, over faint Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Study for the Israelites Drinking of the Water in the Wilderness
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Reclining Boy
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for Vertumnus and Pomona
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Study for Vertumnu & Pomona
Black Chalk on bluish prepared paper
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Seated Nude
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for a Three Graces
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for the Careggi Loggia
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for the Cargeggi Loggia
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for a Three Graces
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Study for a Venus and Cupid
Red Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Studies for The Resurrection of the Dead
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Nude Study for The San Lorenzo
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
(printed on a half page)

Study for the Costello Loggia
Black Chalk
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Finding a good book of drawings of a particular artist who is known for his beautiful drawings can be difficult. Those books that are available are generally very expensive. It is with this knowlege that I recommend this book. The paper is average, the selection and size are nice. I would question some of the croppings, and there were fewer than I would have liked, but I don't know how many Pontormo drawings are publicly available, so few are better than none.

It's OK for studying his drawing technique specially if you want to do master drawing copying.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  3.7 out of 5 stars