The reasoning behind the mix of styles Pontormo’s painting shows may have stemmed from many different sources. In particular, the historical and cultural events surrounding Italy in the early 1500s could have been a factor in the departure from the classicism and naturalism of the High Renaissance. The discovery of Heliocentrism by Copernicus in 1512 was a major deviation from what people had believed to be true for centuries. This dramatic shift in normal thought could have prompted an inclination towards more atypical thinking that conflicts with classic social and artistic foundations, which would explain the stylistic shift introduced by Pontormo. The classical style that populated art before Mannerism was characterized by its harmony,
