The Italian painter Il Rosso (1495-1540) was one of the leaders in the development of the mannerist style of painting, which he was the first to implant in France.

Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, known as Il Rosso or Rosso Fiorentino, was born in Florence. He began studying art as a boy but had difficulty finding a teacher to his liking since, as Giorgio Vasari tells us, "He had an opinion of his own in opposition to their styles." About 1512 he entered the workshop of Andrea del Sarto, where he met Pontormo.

Il Rosso and Pontormo brought Florentine mannerism into being. This new style, which contrasts dramatically with the order and calm of High Renaissance art, is well illustrated by Il Rosso's Deposition (1521). In this painting, sharply angular, emaciated figures climbing up and down ladders surround the twisted body of Christ, which has turned green in death. His Moses...