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The Workshop and the Shadow

In the narrow streets of Florence, the young apprentice Jacopo di Giovanni di Francesco began his life in the studio of Andrea del Sarto. He stayed there, working alongside the master, until the end of 1521. There was a certain independence in his hand even then, a way of moving the brush that suggested he was not merely a follower. He moved through the circles of the city, finding himself among the craftsmen and the men who shaped the visual life of the Florentine court, though he often found himself on the outside of the most significant commissions.

His path was not a straight one. He moved between the city and the countryside, finding his way into the orbit of Pontormo. His drawings, which now sit in various museums, show a specific way of handling the human form. The figures often sit in unusual, almost strange positions, echoing the restless energy found in the work of Rosso Fiorentino. He was a man who preferred his own way of seeing, even when it meant being excluded from the grander projects assigned to others.

A Life of Changing Hands

The work he left behind is scattered, found in quiet corners of churches and in the halls of great museums. His hands touched many different subjects, from the sacred to the decorative.

• Altarpieces for the church of Santa Lucia de' Magnoli in Florence.
• Two retables for the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio in Cortona.
• Decorations for a triumphal arch in San Felice in Piazza.
• Grotesque decorations for the Villa Medicea di Careggi.
• Drawings of draped figures and vases held in the Louvre.

In 1525, he worked on the decorations for an arch for the feast of San Felice in Piazza, a task shared with others. Later, in 1536, he contributed to the decorations of the Villa Medicea di Careggi under the supervision of Pontormo. His paintings often have a hard, luminous quality, particularly in his portraits, where he captured the features of his subjects with a steady, observant eye.

The Quiet Departure

There is a shift in his later years that is hard to ignore. After the plague that swept through Florence in 1527, he sought refuge in Cortona. When he eventually returned to Florence, the nature of his work seemed to change. The brush was set aside for a more humble trade. He became a cimatore, a cutter of hair, a profession that offered a certain stability that the life of a painter could not provide. He lived in a house on Via Coda Rimessa, far from the grand commissions of the nobility.

He died in Florence in 1554. His name was recorded in the books of the guilds, not as a celebrated master, but as a man who had worked with his hands in many ways. He remains a figure of the Florentine school, a man whose style was shaped by the giants of his time but remained distinctly his own.