Pontormo’s Visitation once again exhibited to the public

New location for Pontormo’s Visitation, recently transferred from the Pieve di Carmignano (Prato), currently unusable: from tomorrow, Saturday 5 October, it will be exhibited again to the public in the Sala del Frieze of the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano (Prato), in not far from the Salon of Leo

The Diocese of Pistoia and Pescia accepted the joint proposal of the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Tuscany of the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Poggio a Caiano, also shared by the Municipality of Carmignano, in agreement with the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Florence, Pistoia and Prato, to exhibit the paintings of the Parish Church in Poggio a Caiano for the time necessary for the restoration of the church, which is in very critical conservation conditions, such as not to guarantee the safety of the works of art inside.

The General Directorate of Museums of the MiC has allocated a loan of 35 thousand euros in favor of the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Tuscany for all operations related to the preparation of the Visitation in the Sala del Frieze of the Villa di Poggio a Caiano and the adaptation of the microclimatic conditions of the itself.

The other altarpieces from from the Parish Church: the Madonna del Carmine and saints by GP Naldini and the Saints, the Annunciation of the Florentine area), the Nativity of the Florentine area), the Madonna of the Rosary by Carlo Lotti, ‘Ecstasy of Saint Francis by Cigoli.

The Visitation now exhibited in the Villa of Poggio a Caiano, today part of the new autonomous institute of the MiC – Florentine monumental villas and residences directed by Federica Bergamini, was painted by Pontormo in around 1528-1529 for the chapel of the Pinadori, a family of rich anti-Medici apothecaries , inside the Parish Church of Carmignano. Never cited by Vasari, it has returned to the attention of modern criticism thanks to the attribution by Carlo Gamba in 1924. The attribution is based on a passage by Bocchi-Cinelli (1677) which recalls a preparatory model for the Pinadori already referred to in Pontormo era. Traces of the model have been lost, but some preparatory drawings are preserved in the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizi, from which a compositional scheme similar to that used by Albrecht Dürer in 1497 in the engraving depicting Four Witches can be deduced: it is well known as the Pontormo was frequently inspired, in form and content, by the art of beyond the Alps. From the testamentary provisions of Bartolomea del Pugliese, wife of Paolo Pinadori, dated 25 June 1538, we learn that on that date the work had already been carried out and was destined for the family altar in the Pieve di Carmignano. The death of Paolo Pinadori in 1526 was, in all likelihood, the occasion to renovate the family chapel and to commission the new altarpiece. The Pinadoris, rich Florentine apothecaries, were also suppliers of colors for artists and had the opportunity to get to know Pontormo through Ludovico Capponi and the Confraternity of San Sebastiano, of which the young Bonaccorso Pinadori but also Carucci and the Bronzino, who had also painted a portrait of him.

The altarpiece depicts the meeting between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, both pregnant, narrated in the Gospel of Luke: the two female figures, monumental and slender, join in an embrace so vibrant and alive as to represent the human soul in a suspended moment between the real and the unreal. The faces, marked by an expression of profound emotion, seem to reflect a complex and tormented interiority and the bodies dressed in bright and iridescent colors nourish a mystical atmosphere, which transcends the earthly dimension. The context is typically Florentine, with very tall buildings characterized by ashlar stone and string course frames.

The composition expresses a religious feeling of Reformed inspiration, and proposes a formal invention of great originality (and still partly mysterious), with the juxtaposition of the four majestic female figures split and placed in a mirror on an almost abstract architectural background, with a play crossed of the bright and contrasting colors of the robes and drapery.

The dating to the end of the 1520s is motivated by the style halfway between the Deposition (1526-28) for the Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicita and the painting with the Ten Thousand Martyrs (1528-30) in the Palatine Gallery in Florence. The restoration carried out on the occasion of the Pontormo and Rosso exhibition. Divergenti vie della “Maniera” (Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 2014) confirmed the dating and restored the vibrant colors with which the Visitation was originally conceived.

As Vasari writes, Pontormo was an artist “of singular ingenuity and of his own manner”, capable of translating the most subtle nuances of the human soul into images. This work by Pontormo, far from classical models, is considered today almost a manifesto of the anxieties of Mannerism, for its figures with elongated and ovoid shapes, their unnatural poses, the colors used in an anti-naturalistic way and the search for a restless and tormented.

In the Visitation the peculiarities of Pontormo’s style reach an absolute peak, giving life to a work that still fascinates and moves today. In 1995 the American artist Bill Viola, after accidentally seeing the work reproduced on the cover of a volume, was so fascinated by it that he created The Greeting, an audio-video installation which is a tribute to the painting. To emphasize the mystery of the meeting between the women, Bill Viola used extreme slow motion, which dilates an action of forty-five seconds into a video lasting ten minutes. The impact of Pontormesca’s poetics was such that Viola wanted to write a dedication to the great Florentine master in 2013, with the touching conclusion “with gratitude and respect”.

“The agreement between the competent institutes of the Ministry of Culture, the Diocese of Pistoia and the Parish of Carmignano, and the Municipalities involved – declares Stefano Casciu, regional director of the National Museums of Tuscany – has produced a result with which we are very satisfied: exhibiting the Pontormo’s famous masterpiece, an icon of his inimitable style, in conditions of maximum safety and accessibility, in the Villa that belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent and which houses another equally famous masterpiece by the artist, the lunette with Vertumnus and Pomona. I am sure that the entire territory will benefit greatly from this temporary location in Poggio a Caiano, in the hope that the Parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo will be able to return to hosting a work of identity for the entire community of Carmignano as soon as possible”.

“It is a great honor for the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano and for the autonomous Museum of Florentine Villas and Monumental Residences to be able to return Pontormo’s Visitation to the public – states Federica Bergamini, director of the Florentine Villas and Monumental Residences. On the main floor of the Villa, the visitor will be able to immerse himself in rare and unprecedented short circuits between the great painting of the sixteenth century and many other enigmatic works, such as the frieze attributed to Bertoldo. Poggio a Caiano thus becomes a fascinating museum itinerary, even richer and certainly unexpected.”

“The choice of the Villa di Poggio a Caiano – comments the superintendent Antonella Ranaldi – appeared to be the most appropriate and convincing one dictated by historical and artistic affinities and above all by the connection of the Visitation to the territory to which it belongs. In fact, it offers an additional attraction, among great masterpieces, such as the magnificent Medici Villa, for visitors, while thinking of restoring the Parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo in Carmignano to the safety conditions that will allow the return of the works to that location”.

“Making Pontormo’s Visitation and the artistic heritage housed in the Parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo available to the entire community – underlines the Bishop of Pistoia and Pescia, Monsignor Fausto Tardelli – is a moment of joy. I am sure that this location at the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, which guarantees accessibility and safety and which saw full collaboration between the institutions involved, will not only enhance the works hosted, but will also be a precious driving force to maintain high attention and the interest in the recovery and use of the Pieve di San Michele, returning its church to the community of Carmignano as soon as possible”.

“As the Municipality of Poggio a Caiano we can only say we are proud of having carried out such an important cultural operation – underlines the councilor for culture Diletta Bresci – The works arriving in Poggio a Caiano increase the prestige of our territory and enrich our already vast artistic and cultural heritage. A great satisfaction for us which also derives from the fact that the Visitation and the altarpieces remained within the Medici Municipalities, what we can define as their natural habitat”.

The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano is a state museum, today part of the new autonomous Museum of Florentine Villas and Monumental Residences, recently established by the Ministry of Culture, which offers visitors a fascinating journey through the historic rooms such as the Salon of Leo the Medici Theater and the Billiard Room, rich in frescoes, furnishings and works of art from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, which testify to the passage of the Medici, Habsburg-Lorraine and Savoy dynasties. On the second floor of the villa there is also the Museum of Still Life, the only museum in Italy dedicated to this pictorial genre, which had its greatest success between the end of the sixteenth century and the eighteenth century, and of which the Medici were great lovers and collectors.

The Visitation can be admired within the usual visit route, from Tuesday to Sunday with entry every hour starting from 8.30am to 12.30pm and from 2.30pm to 3.30pm. Reservation is mandatory and free on +39 055 877012. Furthermore, on Sunday 13 October the Villa will be extraordinarily open even in the evening with accompanied visits at 8, 9, 10pm and reservations required.