CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE HIGH RENAISSANCE IN ITALY, 1495-1520
The High Renaissance in Florence and Milan
Key Images Leonardo da Vinci, Adoration of the Magi, p. 556, 16.1 Leonardo da Vinci, Embryo in the Womb, p. 557, 16.2 Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, p. 558, 16.3 Leonardo da Vinci, Project for a Church, p. 558, 16.4 Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks, p. 559, 16.5 Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, p. 561, 16.6 Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, p. 562, 16.7
• The epitome of the ″Renaissance Man″ Leonardo da Vinci demonstrated an interest in nearly every academic discipline, leaving pages of plans and designs in his notebooks.
• Leonardo da Vinci recognized that colors became cooler in the distance, and he used this in his theory of atmospheric perspective. He typically used chiaroscuro to model his figures and sfumato to create a smokiness and soft outline for his figures.
• In the Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci makes Christ the focal point of the composition with the central vanishing point behind Christ’s head.
• In this fresco, Leonardo da Vinci experimented by mixing oil paints and tempera which did not adhere to the wet plaster. It is because of this that the painting is undergoing constant conservation.
• While there is some suggestion from Vasari that the subject of the Mona Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, hence the name ″La Gioconda,″ the subject is still disputed.
Rome Resurgent
Key Images Donato Bramante, The Tempietto, Rome, p. 563, 16.8 Cristoforo Foppa Caradosso, Bronze medal showing Bramante′s design, p. 564, 16.11 Michelangelo, Pietà, p. 566, 16.12 Michelangelo, David, p. 567, 16.13 Michelangelo, Moses, p. 568, 16.15 Michelangelo, Awakening Prisoner, p. 568, 16.16 Interior of Sistine Chapel showing Michelangelo′s ceiling fresco, p. 569, 16.17 Libyan Sibyl portion of the Sistine chapel, p. 570, 16.19 Michelangelo, The Fall of Man and The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, p. 572, 16.20 Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, p. 572, 16.21 Raphael, La Belle Jardinière, p. 574, 16.22 Raphael, Frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura, p. 575, 16.23 Raphael, Disputà, p. 575, 16.24 Raphael, The School of Athens, p. 576, 16.25 Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de′ Medici and Luigi de′ Rossi, p. 577, 16.26 Raphael, Saint Paul Preaching at Athens, p. 578, 16.27 Raphael, Galatea, p. 579, 16.28 Marcantonio Raimondi, after Raphael, The Judgment of Paris, p. 579, 16.29
• During the papacy of Pope Julius II (1503–1513), there was an artistic renewal of the city of Rome with extensive church patronage of the arts.
• Donato Bramante was commissioned by the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to build a structure on the site where it was believed that St. Peter was crucified.
• This building was based on the martyrium and was called the Tempietto or ″little temple.″
• The Pietà is the only work that Michelangelo signed.
• Michelangelo′s David was the first colossal nude since classical antiquity.
• The influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo can be seen in the paintings of Raphael who merged both of their styles in his paintings.
Venice
Key Images Giorgione (and Titian?), Fête Champêtre (Pastoral Concert), p. 580, 16.30 Giorgione, The Tempest, p. 581, 16.31 Titian, Bacchanal, p. 582, 16.32 Titian, Madonna with Members of the Pesaro Family, p. 583, 16.33 Titian, Man with the Glove, p. 584, 16.34
• Giorgione′s The Tempest utilizes the mood of the landscape to contribute to the pastoral theme of the work, creating a new tradition in art. This tradition was the creation of pictorial poetry instead of the narratives that had governed compositions up to this point.
• Vasari criticized Giorgione for not making drawings prior to painting. Vasari believed that colore was secondary to disegno. • Titian was heavily influenced by his work with Giorgione, whose impact can be seen in Titian’s Bacchanal.
Key Terms/Places/Names Martin Luther Girolamo Savonarola chiaroscuro La Gioconda Giorgio Vasari patron Vitruvius sfumato terribilità Pope Julius II martyrium sacra conversazione
Discussion Questions
1. In what respects does Leonardo da Vinci epitomize the ″Renaissance Man″?
2. In what ways could Raphael's School of Athens (p. 576, 16.25) be considered exemplary of High Renaissance painting?
3. How did Giorgio Vasari′s Lives of the Artists shape our modern view of the Italian Renaissance?
4. How does the idealism of the High Renaissance relate to the naturalistic and classical aesthetic of the Early Renaissance?
5. In what ways can the influences of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo be seen in the work of Raphael?
Resources
Books
Baldini, Umberto. The Sculpture of Michelangelo, tr. Clare Coope. New York: Rizzoli, 1982.
Bourcher, Brude. Andrea Palladio: The Architecture in His Time. New York: Abbeville, 1994.
Ettlinger, Leopold, and Helen Ettlinger. Raphael. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1987.
Goldschneider, Ludwig. Leonardo da Vinci and His Life and Work, Paintings and Drawings. 7th ed. London: Phaidon Press, 1964.
Hibbert, Christopher. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1980.
Jones, Roger and Nicholas Penny. Raphael. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Lewis, R. W. B. The City of Florence. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995.
Murray, Linda. Michelangelo: World of Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo: Flights of the Mind. New York: Viking Penguin, 2004.
Olson, Roberta J. M. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Schultz, Bernard. Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy. Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1985.
Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. New York: Penguin Books, 1987.
DVDs
Biography—Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Master. (2004). A&E Home Video. 50 min. Biography—Michelangelo: Art and Man. (2004). A&E Home Video. 50 min. Empires—The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. (2004). PBS Paramount. 240 min. Genius—Leonardo da Vinci. (2006). Kultur Video. 50 min. Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. (2006). View Video.
www
Institute and Museum of the History of Science (Florence) http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/
Leonardo da Vinci (BBC—Science and Nature) http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE LATE RENAISSANCE AND MANNERISM IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY
Late Renaissance Florence: The Church, The Court, and Mannerism
Key Images Rosso Fiorentino, The Descent from the Cross, p. 589, 17.1 Jacopo da Pontormo, The Entombment, p. 589, 17.2 Michelangelo, Tomb of Giuliano de′ Medici, p. 590, 17.3 Michelangelo, Vestibule of the Laurentian Library, p. 591, 17.4 Bartolommeo Ammanati, Courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti, p. 592, 17.5 Giorgio Vasari, Façade of Uffizi, Florence, p. 592, 17.6 Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Eleanora of Toledo and Her Son Giovanni de′ Medici, p. 593, 17.7 Agnolo Bronzino, Allegory of Venus, p. 593, 17.8 Giorgio Vasari, Perseus and Andromeda, p. 594, 17.9 Giovanni Bologna, The Rape of the Sabine Woman, p. 595, 17.10
• In the early sixteenth century Florentine artists developed a new style of art that seemed to be in opposition to the serenity of the art of the High Renaissance. This style, which became known as mannerism, was highly expressive. Mannerism was linked to an increased religiosity of the period possibly driven by the preaching of the Dominican friar Savonarola or in response to the Reformation.
• This conscious lack of balance can be seen in Jacopo da Pontormo′s The Entombment.
• Under the continued patronage of the Medicis, the city of Florence flourished in the early sixteenth century with Michelangelo′s addition of the New Sacristy to San Lorenzo, and his design for the Laurentian library.
• High Mannerism asserted a ″pure aesthetic ideal″ in art, emphasizing elegance and virtuosity.
Rome Reformed
Key Images Titian, Pope Paul III and His Grandsons, p. 596, 17.11 Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, p. 597, 17.12 Michelangelo, The Last Judgment (detail), p. 598, 17.13 Michelangelo, Pietà, Florence, p. 599, 17.14 Michelangelo, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Campidoglio, Rome, p. 600, 17.16 Michelangelo, St. Peter’s Rome, p. 601, 17.17 Andrea Sacchi and Jan Miel, Urban VIII Visiting Il Gesù, p. 602, 17.20 Giacomo della Porta, Façade of Il Gesù, Rome, p. 603, 17.21
• Pope Paul III responded to the challenge of the Protestant Reformation by calling the Council of Trent. The council, which issued its regulations in 1564, proposed expansive reforms.
• Pope Paul III, who was educated in the Medici household in Florence, was interested in commissioning projects from leading artists including Michelangelo. These projects included works in the urban center of Rome and also in the Vatican.
• Michelangelo′s contribution to this effort was extensive with his painting of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel and design for the Campidoglio and St. Peter′s.
• The Last Judgment is much darker in tone than his earlier Genesis scenes, possibly reflecting Michelangelo′s increased pessimism.
• New religious orders such as the Jesuits commissioned the construction of large basilicas for worship, which marked a departure from the central-plan churches of the earlier period.
Mantua of the Gonzaga
Key Images Giulio Romano, Courtyard of the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, p. 604, 17.22 Giulio Romano, Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus, p. 604, 17.23 Correggio, Jupiter and Io, p. 605, 17.24
• In Mantua Isabella d′Este, the wife of Francesco II Gonzaga, was one of the most active patrons of the period.
• In designing the Palazzo del Te for Francesco II Gonzaga, Giulio Romano broke the traditional rules of architecture, seemingly signifying that the wishes of the patron supersede the traditional ″rules″of architecture. In the Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus, Romano depicted Gonzaga as Zeus, further reinforcing the notion of the primacy of the patron.
Parma and Bologna
Key Images Correggio, The Assumption of the Virgin, p. 606, 17.25 Parmigianino, Self Portrait, p. 607, 17.26 Parmigianino, The Madonna with the Long Neck, p. 607, 17.27 Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of a Noblewoman, p. 608, 17.28
• The commission of Mannerist works in Parma and Bologna suggests that these patrons were also interested in artistic innovations.
• Parmigianino′s Madonna with the Long Neck is his most well-known work. The unbalanced composition with the elongated figures is an inversion of the ideals of the High Renaissance.
• Other works from these areas, such as Lavinia Fontana′s Portrait of a Noblewoman, suggests that there was also an interest in the naturalistic paintings more characteristic of the High Renaissance.
Venice: The Serene Republic
Key Images Jacopo Sansovino, Mint and Library of St. Mark’s, Venice, p. 609, 17.29 Titian, Venus of Urbino, p. 611, 17.30 Titian, Danaë, p. 611, 17.31 Titian, Pietà, p. 612, 17.32 Paolo Veronese, The Feast in the House of Levi, p. 613, 17.33 Jacopo Tintoretto, The Last Supper, p. 615, 17.34 Andrea Palladio, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, p. 616, 17.35 Andrea Palladio, Villa Rotonda, p. 618, 17.37
• In Venice, Sansovino became the chief architect of the city. His buildings were deeply influenced by his background as a sculptor and are very sculptural. Sansovino′s Library of San Marco was a blend of Roman classicism and opulent ornamentation.
• The subject of Titian′s Venus of Urbino is debated. Some scholars suggest that it was intended to celebrate a marriage, although the records are unclear. The figure shows the influence of Michelangelo′s Night from the tomb of Giuliano de′ Medici in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence (Fig. 17.3, p. 590).
• Titian′s emphasis on color (colore) instead of drawing (disegno) was one of the hallmarks of Venetian painting, also seen in the work of Giorgione.
Key Terms/Places/Names Mannerism pietra serena iconography iconology Catholic Reformation Council of Trent cassone classicizing
Discussion Questions
1. In what ways does Il Gesù exemplify the aims of the Counter Reformation?
2. In what ways could some of Michelangelo′s later works be considered Mannerist?
3. In what respect can Parmigianino′s Madonna with the Long Neck be considered an ″inversion of Raphael’s ideals″?
4. How does the Mannerist aesthetic counter that of the High Renaissance with respect to spatial illusionism in painting?
Resources
Books
Ames-Lewis, Francis, and Paul Joannides. Reactions to the Master: Michelangelo’s Effect on Art and Artists in the Sixteenth Centuty. Burlington: Ashgate Publishers, 2003.
Carroll, Eugene A. Rosso Fiorentino. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1987.
Ekserdjian, David. Parmigianino. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
Friedlaender, Walter, and Donald Posner. Mannerism and Anti-mannerism in Italian Painting. New York: Schocken Books, 1965.
Johnson, Geraldine A., and Sara F. Matthews Grieco, eds. Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
McCorquodale, Charles. Bronzino. New York: Harper and Row, 1981.
Murray, Linda. The High Renaissance and Mannerism: Italy, the North, and Spain, 1500–1600. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Pope-Hennessy, Sir John. Cellini. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.
Tavenor, Robert. Palladio and Palladianism. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ReplyDeleteTHE HIGH RENAISSANCE IN ITALY, 1495-1520
The High Renaissance in Florence and Milan
Key Images
Leonardo da Vinci, Adoration of the Magi, p. 556, 16.1
Leonardo da Vinci, Embryo in the Womb, p. 557, 16.2
Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, p. 558, 16.3
Leonardo da Vinci, Project for a Church, p. 558, 16.4
Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks, p. 559, 16.5
Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, p. 561, 16.6
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, p. 562, 16.7
• The epitome of the ″Renaissance Man″ Leonardo da Vinci demonstrated an interest in nearly every academic discipline, leaving pages of plans and designs in his notebooks.
• Leonardo da Vinci recognized that colors became cooler in the distance, and he used this in his theory of atmospheric perspective. He typically used chiaroscuro to model his figures and sfumato to create a smokiness and soft outline for his figures.
• In the Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci makes Christ the focal point of the composition with the central vanishing point behind Christ’s head.
• In this fresco, Leonardo da Vinci experimented by mixing oil paints and tempera which did not adhere to the wet plaster. It is because of this that the painting is undergoing constant conservation.
• While there is some suggestion from Vasari that the subject of the Mona Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, hence the name ″La Gioconda,″ the subject is still disputed.
Rome Resurgent
Key Images
Donato Bramante, The Tempietto, Rome, p. 563, 16.8
Cristoforo Foppa Caradosso, Bronze medal showing Bramante′s design, p. 564, 16.11
Michelangelo, Pietà, p. 566, 16.12
Michelangelo, David, p. 567, 16.13
Michelangelo, Moses, p. 568, 16.15
Michelangelo, Awakening Prisoner, p. 568, 16.16
Interior of Sistine Chapel showing Michelangelo′s ceiling fresco, p. 569, 16.17
Libyan Sibyl portion of the Sistine chapel, p. 570, 16.19
Michelangelo, The Fall of Man and The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, p. 572, 16.20
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, p. 572, 16.21
Raphael, La Belle Jardinière, p. 574, 16.22
Raphael, Frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura, p. 575, 16.23
Raphael, Disputà, p. 575, 16.24
Raphael, The School of Athens, p. 576, 16.25
Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de′ Medici and Luigi de′ Rossi,
p. 577, 16.26
Raphael, Saint Paul Preaching at Athens, p. 578, 16.27
Raphael, Galatea, p. 579, 16.28
Marcantonio Raimondi, after Raphael, The Judgment of Paris, p. 579, 16.29
• During the papacy of Pope Julius II (1503–1513), there was an artistic renewal of the city of Rome with extensive church patronage of the arts.
• Donato Bramante was commissioned by the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to build a structure on the site where it was believed that St. Peter was crucified.
• This building was based on the martyrium and was called the Tempietto or ″little temple.″
• The Pietà is the only work that Michelangelo signed.
• Michelangelo′s David was the first colossal nude since classical antiquity.
• The influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo can be seen in the paintings of Raphael who merged both of their styles in his paintings.
Venice
Key Images
Giorgione (and Titian?), Fête Champêtre (Pastoral Concert), p. 580, 16.30
Giorgione, The Tempest, p. 581, 16.31
Titian, Bacchanal, p. 582, 16.32
Titian, Madonna with Members of the Pesaro Family, p. 583, 16.33
Titian, Man with the Glove, p. 584, 16.34
• Giorgione′s The Tempest utilizes the mood of the landscape to contribute to the pastoral theme of the work, creating a new tradition in art. This tradition was the creation of pictorial poetry instead of the narratives that had governed compositions up to this point.
• Vasari criticized Giorgione for not making drawings prior to painting. Vasari believed that colore was secondary to disegno.
• Titian was heavily influenced by his work with Giorgione, whose impact can be seen in Titian’s Bacchanal.
Key Terms/Places/Names
Martin Luther
Girolamo Savonarola
chiaroscuro
La Gioconda
Giorgio Vasari
patron
Vitruvius
sfumato
terribilità
Pope Julius II
martyrium
sacra conversazione
Discussion Questions
1. In what respects does Leonardo da Vinci epitomize the ″Renaissance Man″?
2. In what ways could Raphael's School of Athens (p. 576, 16.25) be considered exemplary of High Renaissance painting?
3. How did Giorgio Vasari′s Lives of the Artists shape our modern view of the Italian
Renaissance?
4. How does the idealism of the High Renaissance relate to the naturalistic and classical aesthetic of the Early Renaissance?
5. In what ways can the influences of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo be seen in the work of Raphael?
Resources
Books
Baldini, Umberto. The Sculpture of Michelangelo, tr. Clare Coope. New York: Rizzoli,
1982.
Bourcher, Brude. Andrea Palladio: The Architecture in His Time. New York: Abbeville,
1994.
Ettlinger, Leopold, and Helen Ettlinger. Raphael. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1987.
Goldschneider, Ludwig. Leonardo da Vinci and His Life and Work, Paintings and
Drawings. 7th ed. London: Phaidon Press, 1964.
Hibbert, Christopher. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. New York: Morrow Quill
Paperbacks, 1980.
Jones, Roger and Nicholas Penny. Raphael. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Lewis, R. W. B. The City of Florence. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995.
Murray, Linda. Michelangelo: World of Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo: Flights of the Mind. New York: Viking Penguin, 2004.
Olson, Roberta J. M. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. New York: Thames and Hudson,
1997.
Schultz, Bernard. Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy. Michigan: UMI Research
Press, 1985.
Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. New York: Penguin Books, 1987.
DVDs
Biography—Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Master. (2004). A&E Home Video. 50 min.
Biography—Michelangelo: Art and Man. (2004). A&E Home Video. 50 min.
Empires—The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. (2004). PBS Paramount. 240 min.
Genius—Leonardo da Vinci. (2006). Kultur Video. 50 min.
Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. (2006). View Video.
www
Institute and Museum of the History of Science (Florence) http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/
Leonardo da Vinci (BBC—Science and Nature) http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/
Michelangelo Buonarroti http://www.michelangelo.com/buonarroti.html
Michelangelo’s David (PBS: Culture shock flashpoints) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/david_at.html
Mona Lisa (PBS: The Treasures of the World) http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/mona_lisa/mlevel_2/mlevel2_renaissance.html
St. Peter’s Basilica and Michelangelo (PBS: Wonders of the World) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/st_peters_basilica.html
The Digital Michelangelo Project (Stanford University) http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/mich/
The Vatican (The Official Website) http://www.vatican.va/
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ReplyDeleteTHE LATE RENAISSANCE AND MANNERISM
IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY
Late Renaissance Florence: The Church, The Court, and Mannerism
Key Images
Rosso Fiorentino, The Descent from the Cross, p. 589, 17.1
Jacopo da Pontormo, The Entombment, p. 589, 17.2
Michelangelo, Tomb of Giuliano de′ Medici, p. 590, 17.3
Michelangelo, Vestibule of the Laurentian Library, p. 591, 17.4
Bartolommeo Ammanati, Courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti, p. 592, 17.5
Giorgio Vasari, Façade of Uffizi, Florence, p. 592, 17.6
Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Eleanora of Toledo and Her Son Giovanni de′ Medici,
p. 593, 17.7
Agnolo Bronzino, Allegory of Venus, p. 593, 17.8
Giorgio Vasari, Perseus and Andromeda, p. 594, 17.9
Giovanni Bologna, The Rape of the Sabine Woman, p. 595, 17.10
• In the early sixteenth century Florentine artists developed a new style of art that seemed to be in opposition to the serenity of the art of the High Renaissance. This style, which became known as mannerism, was highly expressive. Mannerism was linked to an increased religiosity of the period possibly driven by the preaching of the Dominican friar Savonarola or in response to the Reformation.
• This conscious lack of balance can be seen in Jacopo da Pontormo′s The Entombment.
• Under the continued patronage of the Medicis, the city of Florence flourished in the early sixteenth century with Michelangelo′s addition of the New Sacristy to San Lorenzo, and his design for the Laurentian library.
• High Mannerism asserted a ″pure aesthetic ideal″ in art, emphasizing elegance and virtuosity.
Rome Reformed
Key Images
Titian, Pope Paul III and His Grandsons, p. 596, 17.11
Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, p. 597, 17.12
Michelangelo, The Last Judgment (detail), p. 598, 17.13
Michelangelo, Pietà, Florence, p. 599, 17.14
Michelangelo, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Campidoglio, Rome, p. 600, 17.16
Michelangelo, St. Peter’s Rome, p. 601, 17.17
Andrea Sacchi and Jan Miel, Urban VIII Visiting Il Gesù, p. 602, 17.20
Giacomo della Porta, Façade of Il Gesù, Rome, p. 603, 17.21
• Pope Paul III responded to the challenge of the Protestant Reformation by calling the Council of Trent. The council, which issued its regulations in 1564, proposed expansive reforms.
• Pope Paul III, who was educated in the Medici household in Florence, was interested in commissioning projects from leading artists including Michelangelo. These projects included works in the urban center of Rome and also in the Vatican.
• Michelangelo′s contribution to this effort was extensive with his painting of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel and design for the Campidoglio and St. Peter′s.
• The Last Judgment is much darker in tone than his earlier Genesis scenes, possibly reflecting Michelangelo′s increased pessimism.
• New religious orders such as the Jesuits commissioned the construction of large basilicas for worship, which marked a departure from the central-plan churches of the earlier period.
Mantua of the Gonzaga
Key Images
Giulio Romano, Courtyard of the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, p. 604, 17.22
Giulio Romano, Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus, p. 604, 17.23
Correggio, Jupiter and Io, p. 605, 17.24
• In Mantua Isabella d′Este, the wife of Francesco II Gonzaga, was one of the most active patrons of the period.
• In designing the Palazzo del Te for Francesco II Gonzaga, Giulio Romano broke the traditional rules of architecture, seemingly signifying that the wishes of the patron supersede the traditional ″rules″of architecture. In the Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus, Romano depicted Gonzaga as Zeus, further reinforcing the notion of the primacy of the patron.
Parma and Bologna
Key Images
Correggio, The Assumption of the Virgin, p. 606, 17.25
Parmigianino, Self Portrait, p. 607, 17.26
Parmigianino, The Madonna with the Long Neck, p. 607, 17.27
Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of a Noblewoman, p. 608, 17.28
• The commission of Mannerist works in Parma and Bologna suggests that these patrons were also interested in artistic innovations.
• Parmigianino′s Madonna with the Long Neck is his most well-known work. The unbalanced composition with the elongated figures is an inversion of the ideals of the High Renaissance.
• Other works from these areas, such as Lavinia Fontana′s Portrait of a Noblewoman, suggests that there was also an interest in the naturalistic paintings more characteristic of the High Renaissance.
Venice: The Serene Republic
Key Images
Jacopo Sansovino, Mint and Library of St. Mark’s, Venice, p. 609, 17.29
Titian, Venus of Urbino, p. 611, 17.30
Titian, Danaë, p. 611, 17.31
Titian, Pietà, p. 612, 17.32
Paolo Veronese, The Feast in the House of Levi, p. 613, 17.33
Jacopo Tintoretto, The Last Supper, p. 615, 17.34
Andrea Palladio, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, p. 616, 17.35
Andrea Palladio, Villa Rotonda, p. 618, 17.37
• In Venice, Sansovino became the chief architect of the city. His buildings were deeply influenced by his background as a sculptor and are very sculptural. Sansovino′s Library of San Marco was a blend of Roman classicism and opulent ornamentation.
• The subject of Titian′s Venus of Urbino is debated. Some scholars suggest that it was intended to celebrate a marriage, although the records are unclear. The figure shows the influence of Michelangelo′s Night from the tomb of Giuliano de′ Medici in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence (Fig. 17.3, p. 590).
• Titian′s emphasis on color (colore) instead of drawing (disegno) was one of the hallmarks of Venetian painting, also seen in the work of Giorgione.
Key Terms/Places/Names
Mannerism
pietra serena
iconography
iconology
Catholic Reformation
Council of Trent
cassone
classicizing
Discussion Questions
1. In what ways does Il Gesù exemplify the aims of the Counter Reformation?
2. In what ways could some of Michelangelo′s later works be considered Mannerist?
3. In what respect can Parmigianino′s Madonna with the Long Neck be considered an ″inversion of Raphael’s ideals″?
4. How does the Mannerist aesthetic counter that of the High Renaissance with
respect to spatial illusionism in painting?
Resources
Books
Ames-Lewis, Francis, and Paul Joannides. Reactions to the Master: Michelangelo’s
Effect on Art and Artists in the Sixteenth Centuty. Burlington: Ashgate Publishers,
2003.
Carroll, Eugene A. Rosso Fiorentino. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1987.
Ekserdjian, David. Parmigianino. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
Friedlaender, Walter, and Donald Posner. Mannerism and Anti-mannerism in Italian
Painting. New York: Schocken Books, 1965.
Johnson, Geraldine A., and Sara F. Matthews Grieco, eds. Picturing Women in
Renaissance and Baroque Italy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
McCorquodale, Charles. Bronzino. New York: Harper and Row, 1981.
Murray, Linda. The High Renaissance and Mannerism: Italy, the North, and Spain,
1500–1600. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Pope-Hennessy, Sir John. Cellini. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.
Tavenor, Robert. Palladio and Palladianism. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991.