ROSSO FIORENTINO
(b. 1494, Firenze, d. 1540, Paris)

Descent from the Cross (detail)

1521
Oil on wood
Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Volterra

Rosso too acknowledges, as the Pontormo Deposition does, Michelangelo's Roman Pietà (the body of Christ is clearly inspired by the Vatican Pietà), but the Christ of the Deposition is far more closely connected with a drawing for a Pietà which Michelangelo made about 1519-20, and which haunted Rosso to the end of his life.