Francesco Bachiacca | Portrait of a young lady holding a cat, 1525-30

A Florentine painter and draughtsman, Francesco d'Ubertino Verdi, called Bachiacca [1494-1557] is chiefly recognized as an artist who helped evolve the style of Mannerism🎨.

He is said to have studied with Umbrian painter, Pietro Perugino🎨 (1446-1524) and also collaborated with other artists of the time such as Franciabigio (1482-1525) and Pontormo🎨 (1494-1557).

His style gathered many influences, showing an artistic knowledge beyond that of Florence. The Grove Dictionary of Art notes this in his piece, Adam and Eve with their Children. In the work, Bachiacca painted Adam and Eve in the style of Perugino’s piece, Apollo and Marsyas, and the children in the style of Marcantonio Raimondi’s (1480-1534) engraving, God Appearing to Noah.

Though, still more diverse is his borrowing of German artist Albrecht Dürer🎨’s piece of Adam and Eve, for the landscape background.

His later work shows the influence of Michelangelo🎨 and from mannerists🎨 such as Il Bronzino, Vasari and Salviati. As much as Bachiacca contributed to the movement of Mannerism🎨, he often retained the balance and order of the early Renaissance style.

The artist has a number of other well known works, including his Flagellation of Christ, The Gathering of Manna, and his pieces in the Uffizi Gallery🎨, Christ before Caiaphas, the Deposition and a predella from his altarpiece Stories from the Life of Saint Acasius.

He also has works in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The National Gallery in Washington D.C., The National Galleries in Edinburgh, London and Australia, The Pinacoteca in Milan and in Bologna, among others.

He is well known for his contributions to the bedroom decorations for Giovanni Benintendi, in collaboration with Franciabigio and Pontormo🎨.

The spelling of his name is sometimes seen as Bachiacca, and is sometimes known as Francesco d’Ubertino Verdi. | The Uffizi Gallery