14 PONTORMO (Jacopo Carucci) Italian, 1494-1557 Portrait of a Halberdier (Francesco Guardi?), 1528-30 Oil on panel transferred to canvas 92 x 72 cm (36¼ x 28 in.) 89.PA.49 Jacopo Pontormo, court painter to Duke Cosimo de' Medici and one of the founders of the so-called Mannerist style in Florence, excelled as a portraitist. The Halberdier is his greatest achievement. Much has been written about the identification of the sitter. In 1568, the chronicler of artists' lives, Giorgio Vasari, noted that during the 1528-30 siege of Florence Pontormo painted a "most beautiful work," a portrait of Francesco Guardi as a soldier. We know nothing of Francesco's appearance, yet his birthdate of 1514 would make him about the age of Pontormo's teenage sitter. The name of the rival claimant, Cosimo de' Medici, is based solely on a 1612 Florentine inventory. Pontormo shows his halberdier before a bastion as if defending the city. The physical confidence conveyed by his swaggering pose, slung sword, and loose grip on the halberd (spear) suggest a control that is belied by his anxious expression. This ambivalent message is reinforced by his garb. His casually worn, fashionable red cap is decorated by a hat badge showing the heroic deed of Hercules overcoming Antaeus. Our unbloodied fighter stares into the unknown, his expression suggesting he has just become aware of the myth of the immortality of youth. According to Vasari, this "most beautiful" portrait of Francesco Guardi had a cover with the legend of Pygmalion and Galatea (Florence, Palazzo Vecchio) painted by Pontormo's talented pupil Bronzino. The extraordinary quality of the Getty portrait certainly merits Vasari's epithet. Pontormo's brilliant handling of paint and edgy repetition of forms create a vibrant personality, an achievement as impressive as Pygmalion giving life to stone. DJ ITALIAN SCHOOL 31