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

Martyrdom of St Maurice and the Theban Legion (detail)

c. 1531
Oil on wood
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

The various crucifixions in the background may have been based upon a single three-dimensional small-scale model turned at different angles and actually in one case lying on the ground. Throughout the picture and especially with the nudes, Pontormo shows himself to be a worthy follower of Michelangelo, but he has not accepted the older artist's predilection for massive proportions, favouring instead a more delicate, lyric figural anatomy.