Francesco Bacchiacca Overview

Francesco Bacchiacca was also known as Bachiacca or Bacchiacca, Francesco d'Ubertino Verdi or Francesco Ubertini. He was a Italian painter and draughtsman, born in Borgo San Lorenzo, near Florence, in 1494 whose work is characteristic of the Florentine Mannerist style.

He was a student of Umbrian painter, Pietro Perugino (1446 – 1524), but also collaborated with other artists of the time such as Franciabigio (1482 – 1525) and Pontormo (1494 – 1557). His style feature many influences. For example – in his work  Adam and Eve with their Children (c. 1517; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.), the figures of the parents are borrowed from Perugino’s Apollo and Marsyas (Paris, Louvre), but the landscape comes from Albrecht Dürer’s print of Adam and Eve (1504) and the children are taken from God Appearing to Noah , engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi. The curious transformation of Perugino’s Apollo into Eve is telling evidence of Bacchiacca’s unfamiliarity with the nude, a shortcoming he never overcame.