Pontormo : Man of Sorrows. A Rediscovered Work

Presents a rediscovered panel painting depicting the Vir Dolorum (Man of Sorrows), attributed to Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo

This volume presents the comprehensive scholarly study of a rediscovered panel painting depicting the Vir Dolorum (Man of Sorrows), attributed to Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo and datable to the years c. 1523-1525. Long known only through old photographic documentation and briefly discussed in the historiography following its publication by Roberto Longhi, the painting has now been fully re-examined through direct study, conservation, and scientific analysis, allowing its autograph status to be convincingly reassessed.

The book brings together art-historical, iconographic, and technical research in order to situate the work securely within Pontormo’s oeuvre and within the broader cultural and spiritual context of early sixteenth-century Florence. Particular attention is devoted to clarifying the subject of the painting, which is demonstrated not to represent an Ecce Homo, as previously assumed, but rather the Vir Dolorum, a devotional image deeply rooted in late medieval and early modern religious practice. This clarification has important consequences for the interpretation, dating, and function of the work.