HIGH RENAISSANCE (1495-1520)
Context - History: 1494 Medici are exiled from Florence, signaling a general exodus of artist from Florence to Rome 1506 New St. Peter’s begun by Pope Julius II 1517 Luther posts his 95 Theses - Protestant Reformation begins. Henry VIII separated English church in 1534 1527 Rome invaded (and sacked) by French and Spanish troops, ending its artistic preeminence Context: High Renaissance Ideas: 1. Rome as cultural capital becomes the new Athens after expulsion of the Medici’s in Florence 2. Papal power Pope Julius II and Leo X - political as well as cultural ambitions 3. The artist as genius Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci - artist as hero, inspired, “divine” 4. Art as metaphor art signs for: 1. the ambitions of their patrons, 2. the ego of the artist/creator, 3. philosophical ideas 5. Monumental ambition and scale large scale painting, sculpture programs, and architecture 6. Neoplatonic thought - the Philosophical Basis of Michelangelo’s Sculpture and Painting Levels in his design for the organization of the Sistine Chapel ceiling program (and Julius II’s tomb): |
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States: Condition: Position in society: Motivation: World view:
lowest: apetitive the world of matter the worker love of gain ignorance
middle: emotional the world of becoming the free citizen ambition opinion
highest: rational the world of being the philosopher pursuit of truth knowledge
lowest: apetitive the world of matter the worker love of gain ignorance
middle: emotional the world of becoming the free citizen ambition opinion
highest: rational the world of being the philosopher pursuit of truth knowledge
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling - Iconographic Program:
Format of ceiling:
Outer boarder of Triangular panels: men and women imprison in physical appetites unaware of the divine word
Middle section of Square panels: Inspired Old Testament prophets and pagan sibyls through their writings and prophecies impart knowledge of the divine will and act as intermediaries between humanity and God
Center Rectangular central panels: stories of men and women who had direct relationship to God represented in panels seen through the architectural divisions as if they are beyond on a more cosmic plane
Mannerism,
Italian Manierismo, (from maniera, “manner,” or “style”), artistic style that predominated in Italy from the end of the High Renaissance in the 1520s to the beginnings of the Baroque style around 1590. The Mannerist style originated in Florence and Rome and spread to northern Italy and, ultimately, to much of central and northern Europe. The term was first used around the end of the 18th century by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Lanzi to define 16th-century artists who were the followers of major Renaissance masters.
Mannerism originated as a reaction to the harmonious classicism and the idealized naturalism of High Renaissance art as practiced by Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael in the first two decades of the 16th century. In the portrayal of the human nude, the standards of formal complexity had been set by Michelangelo, and the norm of idealized beauty by Raphael. But in the work of these artists’ Mannerist successors, an obsession with style and technique in figural composition often outweighed the importance and meaning of the subject matter. The highest value was instead placed upon the apparently effortless solution of intricate artistic problems, such as the portrayal of the nude in complex and artificial poses.
Mannerist artists evolved a style that is characterized by artificiality and artiness, by a thoroughly self-conscious cultivation of elegance and technical facility, and by a sophisticated indulgence in the bizarre. The figures in Mannerist works frequently have graceful but queerly elongated limbs, small heads, and stylized facial features, while their poses seem difficult or contrived. The deep, linear perspectival space of High Renaissance painting is flattened and obscured so that the figures appear as a decorative arrangement of forms in front of a flat background of indeterminate dimensions. Mannerists sought a continuous refinement of form and concept, pushing exaggeration and contrast to great limits. The results included strange and constricting spatial relationships, jarring juxtapositions of intense and unnatural colours, an emphasis on abnormalities of scale, a sometimes totally irrational mix of classical motifs and other visual references to the antique, and inventive and grotesque pictorial fantasies.
Mannerist elements are already present in some of Raphael’s later paintings done in Rome, notably the Transfiguration (1517–20; Vatican Museum). In the period from 1515 to 1524 the Florentine painters Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo da Pontormo broke away from Renaissance classicism and evolved an expressive, emotionally agitated style in their religious compositions. Among the most notable of these early Mannerist works are Pontormo’s Visdomini altarpiece (1518; Church of S. Michele Visdomini, Florence) and Rosso’s Deposition (1521; Pinacoteca Comunale, Volterra). In the early 1520s Rosso journeyed to Rome, where he joined the artists Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga, and Polidoro da Caravaggio, who had all been followers of Raphael in his work for the Vatican. The Mannerist style completely emerged in the paintings of these artists as well as in those of Parmigianino. The latter’s Madonna with the Long Neck (1534; Uffizi, Florence), Rosso’s Dead Christ with Angels (c. 1526; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and Pontormo’s Deposition (1525–28; church of Sta. Felicita, Florence) are preeminent works of Mannerism’s maturity. Michelangelo’s huge fresco The Last Judgment (1533–41; Sistine Chapel, Vatican) shows strong Mannerist tendencies in its agitated composition, formless and indeterminate space, and in the tortured poses and exaggerated musculature of its bunches of nude figures.
Madonna of the Long Neck, oil on wood by Parmigianino, c. 1535; in the Uffizi, Florence. 2.2 × 1.3 m.
SCALA/Art Resource, New York
The sophisticated Mannerism that developed in Rome before 1527 became the chief formative influence on the styles of a number of younger Italian painters who were active during the 1530s, ’40s, and ’50s. Among them were Giorgio Vasari, Daniele da Volterra, Francesco Salviati, Domenico Beccafumi, Federico Zuccari, Pellegrino Tibaldi, and most notably Bronzino, who was the pupil of Pontormo and who became the most important Mannerist painter in Florence at this time. Meanwhile, Mannerism had begun to spread outside Italy; Rosso took the style to France in 1530 and was followed there two years later by Francesco Primaticcio, who evolved an important French variant of Mannerism in his decorations done at the French royal court at Fontainebleau. Mannerism was transplanted and disseminated throughout central and northern Europe around mid-century through large numbers of engravings of Italian paintings and through the visits of northern artists to Rome to study. Bartholomaeus Spranger, Hendrik Goltzius, and Hans von Aachen became important Mannerist painters. Although the Dutch cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam became centres of the new style, the most ambitious patronage was practiced at Prague by the Emperor Rudolf II; Spranger and others who worked for Rudolf evolved a rather bizarre and exotic Mannerism that occasionally degenerated into the merely grotesque and inexplicable.
SCALA/Art Resource, New York
The sophisticated Mannerism that developed in Rome before 1527 became the chief formative influence on the styles of a number of younger Italian painters who were active during the 1530s, ’40s, and ’50s. Among them were Giorgio Vasari, Daniele da Volterra, Francesco Salviati, Domenico Beccafumi, Federico Zuccari, Pellegrino Tibaldi, and most notably Bronzino, who was the pupil of Pontormo and who became the most important Mannerist painter in Florence at this time. Meanwhile, Mannerism had begun to spread outside Italy; Rosso took the style to France in 1530 and was followed there two years later by Francesco Primaticcio, who evolved an important French variant of Mannerism in his decorations done at the French royal court at Fontainebleau. Mannerism was transplanted and disseminated throughout central and northern Europe around mid-century through large numbers of engravings of Italian paintings and through the visits of northern artists to Rome to study. Bartholomaeus Spranger, Hendrik Goltzius, and Hans von Aachen became important Mannerist painters. Although the Dutch cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam became centres of the new style, the most ambitious patronage was practiced at Prague by the Emperor Rudolf II; Spranger and others who worked for Rudolf evolved a rather bizarre and exotic Mannerism that occasionally degenerated into the merely grotesque and inexplicable.
Hercules Killing Cacus, woodcut by Hendrik Goltzius, 1588; in the British Museum, London.
Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.
In sculpture, the serpentine complexity of Michelangelo’s late sculptures, as epitomized in the sinuously spiraling form of his Victory (1532–34; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence), dominated Mannerist aspirations in this medium. The sculptors Bartolommeo Ammannati, Benvenuto Cellini, and, most importantly, Giambologna became the principal practitioners of Mannerism with their graceful and complexly posed statues.
Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.
In sculpture, the serpentine complexity of Michelangelo’s late sculptures, as epitomized in the sinuously spiraling form of his Victory (1532–34; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence), dominated Mannerist aspirations in this medium. The sculptors Bartolommeo Ammannati, Benvenuto Cellini, and, most importantly, Giambologna became the principal practitioners of Mannerism with their graceful and complexly posed statues.
Hercules Fighting the Centaur Nessus, marble, by Giambologna, 1595–1600; in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.
© Danilo Ascione/Shutterstock.com
Mannerism retained a high level of international popularity until the paintings of Annibale Carracci and of Caravaggio around 1600 brought the problematic style to an end and ushered in the long ascendancy of the Baroque. Mannerism was for long afterward looked down upon as a decadent and anarchic style that simply marked a degeneration of High Renaissance artistic production. But in the 20th century the style came to be appreciated anew for its technical bravura, elegance, and polish. Mannerism’s spiritual intensity, its complex and intellectual aestheticism, its experimentation in form, and the persistent psychological anxiety manifested in it made the style attractive and interesting to the modern temperament, which saw affinities between it and modern expressionist tendencies in art.
ARTWORKS
High Renaissance:
73. Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
* Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
76. School of Athens, Raphael
75. Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescos, Michelangelo
* Michelangelo: David, Pieta, Moses, Bound Slaves
* Bramante: tempieto, Plan for St. Peter’s
* Raphael’s cycle of paintings Stanza della Segnatura
Late Renaissance:
80. Venus of Urbino, Titian
* Villa Rotonda, Palladio
* Last Supper, Tintoretto
* Feast in the House of Levi, Veronese
© Danilo Ascione/Shutterstock.com
Mannerism retained a high level of international popularity until the paintings of Annibale Carracci and of Caravaggio around 1600 brought the problematic style to an end and ushered in the long ascendancy of the Baroque. Mannerism was for long afterward looked down upon as a decadent and anarchic style that simply marked a degeneration of High Renaissance artistic production. But in the 20th century the style came to be appreciated anew for its technical bravura, elegance, and polish. Mannerism’s spiritual intensity, its complex and intellectual aestheticism, its experimentation in form, and the persistent psychological anxiety manifested in it made the style attractive and interesting to the modern temperament, which saw affinities between it and modern expressionist tendencies in art.
ARTWORKS
High Renaissance:
73. Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
* Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
76. School of Athens, Raphael
75. Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescos, Michelangelo
* Michelangelo: David, Pieta, Moses, Bound Slaves
* Bramante: tempieto, Plan for St. Peter’s
* Raphael’s cycle of paintings Stanza della Segnatura
Late Renaissance:
80. Venus of Urbino, Titian
* Villa Rotonda, Palladio
* Last Supper, Tintoretto
* Feast in the House of Levi, Veronese
Assignments:
Add the Artworks listed to your flash cards, research and watch Various Art History Videos listed above, and complete Study Guide. Read Chapter 20 and 22 in Gardener's..
Add the Artworks listed to your flash cards, research and watch Various Art History Videos listed above, and complete Study Guide. Read Chapter 20 and 22 in Gardener's..
This website is based upon work supported by:
Dr. Robert Croad for workshops, resources and time -
Marsha Russell for your generosity in sharing materials and knowledge -
and to Valerie Park for your AP Art History web site that this website is based upon.
Dr. Robert Croad for workshops, resources and time -
Marsha Russell for your generosity in sharing materials and knowledge -
and to Valerie Park for your AP Art History web site that this website is based upon.