PONTORMO, Jacopo
(b. 1494, Pontormo, d. 1557, Firenze)

Madonna and Child with Two Saints

1522
Oil on wood, 72 x 60 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Strong colour contrasts and calligraphic effects characterize this painting whose attribution to Pontormo is the object of some debate. Here, as in the Pucci Altarpiece, the harmony of the classical compositional structure is disrupted by the varied, diverging directions of the postures, expressions and gestures of the figures, most noticeably the nervously outstretched hand of St Francis.