The first major Pontormo retrospective ever held outside Florence
An innovator and one of the most original painters of the 16th century, Jacopo Carucci, known as Pontormo, is the subject of a major exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, open until 7 February 2027. It is the first large monographic show on the artist ever held outside Florence, and the first time since 1956 that so many of his masterpieces have been brought together in one place.
The exhibition is curated by Cristina Acidini, with a scientific committee of Elena Capretti, Philippe Costamagna, Bruce Edelstein and Carlo Falciani, and organised by Ales-Scuderie del Quirinale in partnership with the Uffizi Galleries.
What to see at the Pontormo exhibition
The show follows Pontormo’s life in chronological order, from his early work in republican Florence to the great commissions for the Medici and the Church, with sections devoted to his drawings, his portraits and his writings. Across 10 sections it brings together over 130 works, 84 of them by Pontormo: paintings, detached frescoes and a large selection of drawings.
Loans come from the Uffizi, the Galleria Borghese, the Louvre, the National Gallery and the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, alongside churches across Tuscany. Highlights include the Supper at Emmaus, often seen as a forerunner of Caravaggio, and two paintings based on cartoons by Michelangelo, the Noli me tangere, restored for the occasion, and Venus and Cupid.
Don’t miss the Libro mio, the diary Pontormo kept between 1554 and 1556, filled with notes and small sketches. For centuries it was read as proof of an eccentric, tormented personality; the exhibition catalogue offers a more balanced reading.
Firenze, chiesa di Santa Felicita,
cappella Capponi
Per gentile concessione
dell’Arcidiocesi di Firenze
The Capponi Altarpiece
One of the most striking loans is the Capponi Altarpiece (1525-1528), the Pietà also known as the Deposition, which has left its chapel in Santa Felicita in Florence together with the four roundels of the Evangelists by Pontormo and Bronzino. The display recalls the architecture of the chapel itself. Figures spiral upwards around the body of Christ in a swirl of pink and pale blue, colours so bright that they soften the drama of a scene that, on the surface, is about death.
Pontormo’s portraits
Pontormo worked for the Medici for most of his life, and the exhibition includes a large group of portraits painted for the family and for other leading figures of the time. Balanced between formal rigour and psychological depth, they feel strikingly modern: these are faces from five centuries ago that still hold your gaze.
The best example is the Halberdier, whose identity is still debated. Behind his confident, almost defiant military pose there is a hint of melancholy, as if the soldier’s composure had been broken for a moment by a thought or a memory. The exhibition also shows Bronzino’s Lady in Red, painted by Pontormo’s most gifted pupil: an elegant woman in shimmering velvet with a small dog in her arms, whose direct gaze makes her both noble and approachable.
Pontormo treated saints with the same freedom. His Saint Michael the Archangel is no warrior leading the heavenly armies, but a fair-haired young man in a graceful, almost casual pose, resting one leg on the shoulders of the cherub at his feet.
The Visitation and Bill Viola’s The Greeting
The theme of the Visitation opens and closes the exhibition. The first rooms feature Pontormo’s early fresco of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth (1514-1516), detached from the Chiostrino dei Voti in Florence’s Santissima Annunziata: the work that made his name in the city. The last room is reserved for the Visitation from Carmignano (1528-1532), his most famous painting, on loan from the church of San Michele Arcangelo near Prato. Four women in vivid robes meet in an almost abstract space, in a silent embrace that is one of the most memorable images of the Italian Renaissance.
The Visitation also inspired Bill Viola, whose slow-motion video installation The Greeting premiered at the 1995 Venice Biennale. To mark the exhibition, it is on show at Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum, inside the Colosseum Archaeological Park, from 11 October 2026 to 6 February 2027. Seeing both works makes for a rewarding double visit.
Pontormo’s drawings
Drawing was where Pontormo’s talent showed most clearly, and the exhibition gives it plenty of space. Many of his models came straight from the street: workshop boys sketched from life in natural, ever-changing poses. Five hundred years on, their gestures and expressions still look surprisingly familiar.
“The exhibition is a major organisational challenge, a bold curatorial gamble and proof of how institutional synergies can achieve extraordinarily ambitious results. But it is also, and above all, a unique opportunity for the public to come face to face with one of the most seductive and beloved artists of the entire Renaissance.”
Matteo Lafranconi, Director of the Scuderie del Quirinale
Visiting the Pontormo exhibition in Rome
The Scuderie del Quirinale are at Via XXIV Maggio 16, a short walk from the Trevi Fountain. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 8pm, with last entry at 7pm. Allow at least an hour and a half, and book online to avoid queues, especially at weekends.
Pontormo exhibition in Rome: FAQ
How long is the Pontormo exhibition on in Rome?
From 9 October 2026 to 7 February 2027, at the Scuderie del Quirinale.
What are the opening hours?
Daily from 10am to 8pm, last entry 7pm. On 24 and 31 December it closes at 3pm, and on 25 December and 1 January it opens at 4pm.
How many works are on display?
Over 130, including 84 by Pontormo, across 10 sections.
Where can I see Bill Viola’s The Greeting?
At Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum, part of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, from 11 October 2026 to 6 February 2027.
