Porträt des Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556)

This portrait of Giovanni della Casa, the author of the famous etiquette manual Il Galateo, is attributed to Pontormo and dated to around 1550. If authentic, this would be one of Pontormo's very last works, painted in the period when he was consumed by the San Lorenzo fresco project. Della Casa was a prominent literary figure in mid-16th-century Florence. Characteristic of Pontormo's approach, the work displays intense psychological expressiveness, acidic colors, compressed spatial drama, anti-classical tension.

The late portrait, if by Pontormo, shows his final approach to portraiture—simplified forms, a cool palette, and an almost otherworldly quality that characterizes his very latest works.