On one end he designed an
allegory of _Vertumnus_, with his husbandmen around him busy with
their labours, and on the other _Pomona, Diana, &c_. Perhaps in
these last he has carried his imitation of Andrea del Sarto rather too
far in the matter of draperies, which are too profuse and studied.
Indeed the whole works are overdone; he was so anxious to rival his
master that he forced his invention, altering and labouring till all
spontaneity was taken out of his work. Some of his frescoes were in the
cloister of the Certosa, but they are not fair specimens of his best
style, as they were done when the Florentine artists were smitten with
the mania of imitating Albrecht Durer, and in these he has entirely
followed the harder manner of that artist without obtaining his
strength. The frescoes are all scenes from the _Life of Christ_,
and he spent several years over them; after which he painted an altar-
piece.
Giovanni Battista della Palla commissioned him to paint a picture to be
sent to the King of France, and Pontormo returning wisely to his
natural style, painted one of his masterpieces, the _Resurrection of
Lazarus_.
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