From Library Journal
Pilliod (art, Oregon State Univ.) methodically argues for both a reassessment of the place of Jacopo da Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Alessandro Allori in 16th-century painting and for a new understanding of the role of Giorgio Vasari's Lives in art history. Using sociological and historical data, she compiles a portrait of 16th-century painting at odds with the view accepted through the centuries by historians who relied primarily on Vasari for their factual information. By following the money, she proves conclusively that Pontormo was a court painter under the rule of the Medici and was actually a competitor of Vasari for the favor of the duke. Bronzino was a student of Pontormo and Allori, in turn, a student of Bronzino. Though Vasari would tag them as minor participants, the author maintains that they dominated the art of the period. In the eyes of the court, artists were important only in their ability to illustrate what its literary propaganda dictated. But as Pilliod notes, these three artists not to mention Vasari are better known today than are those who did the dictating. This book deserves a wide audience among specialists for its original, well-stated, and erudite text. Ellen Bates, New York Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Library Journal
This book deserves a wide audience among specialists for its original, well-stated, and erudite text.

Book Description
Three Italian Renaissance artists—Jacopo da Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Alessandro Allori—were closely related personally and professionally and dominated Florentine art for almost a century. In this highly original study, Elizabeth Pilliod offers a reassessment of their lives, work, and artistic lineage, challenging the view that has prevailed since Giorgio Vasari wrote dismissively about them in his sixteenth-century Lives. Pilliod compares information from documents she has discovered to Vasari's versions of the artists' lives and shows how Vasari manipulated their biographies—for example supressing any mention of Pontormo's status as a court artist, including his salary from Duke Cosimo I—in order to diminish their reputations, to obliterate memory of the traditional Florentine workshops, and to enhance the importance of the academy instead. She also discusses such subjects as the evidence for Pontormo's association with the Medici court; Pontormo's house and its place in the urban fabric of Florence; Bronzino's and Pontormo's intimate association with poets and theatrical spectacles; and Allori's painted challenge to Vasari's view of the artistic scene in sixteenth-century Florence. The book is a major revision of our understanding of Florentine art and society of the sixteenth century, a new way of looking at Vasari's Lives, and consequently a significant reconsideration of the historiography of Renaissance art.

About the Author
Elizabeth Pilliod is associate professor of art at Oregon State University.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Three Italian Renaissance artists - Jacopo da Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Alessandro Allori - were closely related personally and professionally and dominated Florentine art for almost a century. In this study, Elizabeth Pilliod offers a reassessment of their lives, work, and artistic lineage, challenging the view that has prevailed since Giorgio Vasari wrote dismissively about them in his sixteenth-century Lives." Pilliod compares information from documents she has discovered with Vasari's versions of the artists' lives and shows how Vasari manipulated their biographies - for example, suppressing any mention of Pontormo's status as a court artist, including his salary from Duke Cosimo I - in order to diminish their reputations, to obliterate memory of the traditional Florentine workshops, and to enhance the importance of the Academy instead. She also discusses such subjects as the evidence for Pontormo's association with the Medici court; Pontormo's house and its place in the urban fabric of Florence; Bronzino's and Pontormo's intimate association with poets and theatrical spectacles; and Allori's painted challenge to Vasari's view of the artistic scene in sixteenth-century Florence. The book is a major revision of our understanding of Florentine art and society of the sixteenth century, a new way of looking at Vasari's Lives, and, consequently, a significant reconsideration of the historiography of Renaissance art.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Pilliod (art, Oregon State Univ.) methodically argues for both a reassessment of the place of Jacopo da Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Alessandro Allori in 16th-century painting and for a new understanding of the role of Giorgio Vasari's Lives in art history. Using sociological and historical data, she compiles a portrait of 16th-century painting at odds with the view accepted through the centuries by historians who relied primarily on Vasari for their factual information. By following the money, she proves conclusively that Pontormo was a court painter under the rule of the Medici and was actually a competitor of Vasari for the favor of the duke. Bronzino was a student of Pontormo and Allori, in turn, a student of Bronzino. Though Vasari would tag them as minor participants, the author maintains that they dominated the art of the period. In the eyes of the court, artists were important only in their ability to illustrate what its literary propaganda dictated. But as Pilliod notes, these three artists not to mention Vasari are better known today than are those who did the dictating. This book deserves a wide audience among specialists for its original, well-stated, and erudite text. Ellen Bates, New York Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

ACCREDITATION