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

Halberdier 1530s Oil on canvas, 92 x 72 cm J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu

The identity of the halberdier portrayed on this famous picture is debated. It was suggested that it is a portrait of the young Duke Cosimo, who triumphed at Montemurlo over the last republican initiative led by Filippo Strozzi and Baccio Valori (1537). Those who identify the figure as Francesco di Giovanni di Gherardo Guardi, a resident in Florence, date the painting to the period of the siege of Florence (1529-30).

In the painting the young halberdier is intent on guarding the defensive rampart painted in the background.. As in other works by Pontormo, the intense light that invests the foreground of the painting, contrasts strongly with the dark background and emphasizes the colour of the young man's clothing: the beige of the jacket, the white of the shirt, and the bright red of the pants and beret. A remarkable artistic skill is also discernible in the rendering of the various materials of the objects that distinguishes the figure of this young soldier: the burnished metal of the hand-guard, the leather of the thick belt to which it is attached, the fine grain of the wooden halberd, the gold of the light chain hanging rounded the man's neck and the medallion with the relief of Hercules and Anthaeus on the cap.

A preparatory drawing of the painted version is in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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Author: PONTORMO, Jacopo Title: Halberdier Time-line: 1501-1550 School: Italian Form: painting