Venetian Art of the High Renaissance and Mannerism

Gentile Bellini

Doge Loredan c. 1501

Mehmet II, 1480 Doge Loredan c. 1501

High Renaissance in VeniceBellini, San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505• Sacra conversazione• Vaporous sfumato, harmonious unification of

modeling and shading (i.e. Saint Jerome’s beard)• Overall tonality• Linear perspective• Serene color, gently glowing forms• Dominating architecture that cradles the figures

in a unified scene• Virgin and Child surrounded by a symmetrical

grouping of saints• Light enters from the left• Architecture of the church reflected in the

painting; painting becomes an extension of the real space of the building it is housed in

High Renaissance in Venice Giorgione, Tempest, 1506• Poesia (Italian term that refers to paintings

whose subject matter is drawn from a mythological poem )

• Dream-like, lyrical state• Deserted town with a soldier and a

breast feeding woman• Bushes are shaggy, unkempt;

mysterious pastoral setting• Columns–indicating fortitude–are

ruined, bridge tottering• Lightning makes the scene

menacing• Uncertain meaning

Giorgione, (Titian?), Pastoral Symphony, 1510

• Soft forms of figures; no clear cut edges

• Mysterious theme, unknown meaning

• Shepherds are poets who are inspired by the nymphs who are muses

• Shepherds were thought to have beautiful singing voices

• Nymph dips pitcher into the well of inspiration

• Chiaroscuro and nuanced use of shadowing

• Rounded masses and volumes of women

Titian, Assumption, 1516-18•High altar of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari•Glow of color, Titian one of the great colorists in art history•Daring arrangement of figures in space, very naturally grouped•Solid figures wave their hands passionately•Natural curves and sways in the composition•Youthful Virgin initially thought to be improper because of her sumptuous beauty•Enormous size of figures, towering verticality•Light makes for a complex spatial arrangement

Titian, Madonna of the Pesaro Family , 1519-26

High Renaissance in Venice

Titian, Madonna of the Pesaro Family , 15119-26

• Battle of Santa Maura, 1502, won by Jacopo Pesaro, who kneels at left

• Right: five males of patron’s family presented by Saint Francis of Assisi

• Diagonals and triangles establish a complex asymmetrical spatial relationship

• Virgin at the head of a right triangle

• Multiple oil glazes to increase richness

• Turk bowing on the extreme left

• Saint Peter in the center, although not central to the composition

• Very unusual arrangement not to have Madonna and Child in the center, cf. The Last Supper, San Zaccaria Altarpiece

• Painterly effect in descriptive passages in the painting (i.e. glistening armor of Saint George)

• One figure looks out at us, brings us directly into the composition, as is typical in High Renaissance art

• Columns not part of the original composition: added later

• Light comes from above left, from “on high”

High Renaissance in VeniceTitian, Venus of Urbino• Sensuous delight in female form• May not have been a Venus, but a painting

of a nude• May have been painted for the Duke of

Urbino to celebrate his union with his young wife

• Looks at us directly• Dog (fidelity) curled asleep, does not sense

that the onlooker is unwelcome• Two servants search for something in

cassoni (marriage chests), always made in pairs and intended for the storage of a wife’s trousseau

• Rose (in her hands) and myrtle (on the windowsill) are bridal attributes

• She welcomes the viewer

1510

1538

CorreggioDome fresco in Parma Cathedral, 1526-30

Correggio (1494-1534

•Begins a school of painting taken up by Parmigiano in Parma

•Breaks up the symmetry of High Renaissance using buoyant naturalism rather than deliberate chaos

•Specializes in soft voluptuous flesh

•Reminiscent of Mantegna with POV

•Huge influence on Baroque ceiling painting

Mannerism Parmigianino, Madonna of the Long

Neck• Exaggerated elegance, long

delicate hands and neck• Ambiguous columns: one column

or many? This part of painting left unfinished, as is the hair of the Christ Child

• Self-portrait of artist gazes out at us at left

• Mary’s small head: standards of beauty of the time

• Christ’s pose inspired by Michelangelo’s Pietà

• Vanishing point is low• Oddly proportioned figures, some

parts of the painting are crowded others relatively empty

Mannerist Painting• emphasized complexity and virtuosity over naturalistic representation.

• While the formal vocabulary of Mannerism takes much from the later works of Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Raphael (1483–1520) , its adherents generally favored compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting.

• Some characteristics common to many Mannerist works include distortion of the human figure, a flattening of pictorial space, and a cultivated intellectual sophistication

Mannerism

• Figures often seek out toward the frame rather than the center of the composition

• Heavy Intertwining of Figures• Distortion and elongation of forms• Often a lack of mathematical space• Many religious and mythological subjects,

portraits

Jacopo Pontormo

Deposition (or Entombment) 1528

How can we measure the space!!?

Agnolo Bronzino

Allegory

• 1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Terms) a poem, play, picture, etc., in which the apparent meaning of the characters and events is used to symbolize a deeper moral or spiritual meaning

• http://www.thefreedictionary.com/allegory

Time (note wings and hourglass)

Fraud (serpent’s tail, honeycomb and string)

Deceit

Jest or Folly (with roses and bells on his ankle. Has stepped on a thorn – the pleasure and pain of love)

Jealousy

Oblivion (note no back of head, no brain, o memory)

The Golden Apple of Venus given by Paris in the fateful contest with Minerva and Juno (Hera, Athena & Aphrodite). His reward was Helen and the Trojan War.

Allegory with Venus and Cupid c. 1455

• Agnolo Bronzino• A “puzzle painting” –alludes to different

qualities of Love.• Jest – compared to Fraud, Jealousy and

Deceit.• Note Time and Oblivion struggling with the

blue cloth in an attempt to reveal (or forget) the Truth

• Venus disarms her own son (Cupid)

Allegories• An allegory that takes time to unravel and understand• Greater effort = greater reward• Some allegories more univeral – David & Goliath. Some

more elite. Requires specific education.• May have been a gift of Cosimo de’Medici to Francis I. ( a

gift of flattery – implies that Francis will– 1. that Francis will understand all the references– 2. that Cosimo is inteeligent as well– 3. caters to the taste of Francis: elegant, refined, erotic

MannerismBronzino, Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time• Given to Francis I of France as a gift from the

Medici in Florence• Extremely learned allegories that defy easy

interpretation• Venus fondled by Cupid, her son, and uncovered

by Father Time• Venus holds the apple she won in a beauty contest• Cupid has his eyes on the apple, but does not

suspect that Venus has removed an arrow from his quiver

• Folly throws roses• Vanity is beautiful girl on the outside, but an

animal under her skirt• Vanity’s hands are oddly arranged• Masks symbolize falseness; doves symbolize love• Envy is green• Strong contours• High key color, flesh smooth as porcelain

1499 vs. c. 1550 w/ Mary Magdalene and Nicodemus

Rondanini Pietà

Named for the Roman palace where it long stood, the Rondanini Pietà is the sculpture on which Michelangelo was working only six days prior to his death on February 18, 1564.

Mannerism Bologna, Rape of the Sabine Women• Uncommissioned, done to silence

critics who doubted his ability to carve monumental marble works

• To be seen from all sides• Spiraling movement, figura

serpentinata• Arms and legs spiral in space• Nude figures• Reference to Laocoön in the

crouching old man• Three bodies interlock• Ancient sources said that

sculptures were made from a single block. The Renaissance discovered this was untrue. Bologna wanted to surpass the ancients.

Giovanni BolognaAstronomy, 1573 (cast bronze)

Copernicus:“On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”Published 1543

Galileo“Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” 1632

Women Artists

• Women’s roles in Florence, Sienna and Venice very limited

• More relaxed guild system outside of these cities

Prosperzia de’Rossi (1490 – 1530)

•First woman sculptor to leave works of such high quality

•Knowledge of male anatomy that was unusual for the time in women

•1ST woman painter not the daughter of another painter – great humanist education

•Specialized in portraits, genre and miniatures

•Received high praise from Michelangelo

•Enjoyed the Patronage of the Spanish Royal family

Veronese, Christ in the House of Levi, 1573• Hard to notice Christ and Mary, lost in the shuffle• Architecture sets the scene, dominates the action• Rich costumes, tables magnificently set, stage-like quality• After the dinner: no one is eating any more• Chaotic diffuse composition• Christ turns water into wine for the groom of the wedding who has run out• Not many people are interested in the miracle that has taken place• Came into trouble with the Inquisition for the lack of spirituality in the painting:

dwarves, jesters and German soldiers abound–daring artistic license

Mannerism in Venice Tintoretto, Last Supper, 1592-94• Deep perspective leads your eye back into the painting to nothing in

particular; dynamic diagonal• Muddy atmosphere with lamps burning fitfully• Lamps reveal angels swooping down from the sky• Only light sources: swinging oil lamps and Christ’s (and apostle’s)

incandescent halos• Christ gives the Eucharist to Saint Peter• Judas on opposite side of table, without glow of halo• Long table divides earthly food from spiritual food• Hectic scene in a dining hall• Dogs, cats, servants and miscellaneous figures• Very busy composition

Finding of the body of St Mark in Alexandria , 1548

Andrea Palladio

• Builds off of Alberti and Roman architecture• Harmonious symmetry and a rejection of

ornamentation

Villa Rotunda, Vicenza

Palladian Architecture

Palladio, Villa Rotonda, Vicenza• Pleasure pavilion set in a pastoral

setting• Perfectly symmetrical interior and

exterior• Greek pediment, Roman dome,

Ionic columns, Roman statues• All Palladian villas are built of brick

and faced with stucco• Air of discreet opulence• Four identical colonnaded porches

with a wide flight of steps• Villa faces four horizons

simultaneously• Villa as temple• Centrally planned buildings

considered perfect

Dome originally unglazed as in the Pantheon

No matter how you view the building it seems complete

Palladian Architecture

Palladio, Villa Rotonda, Vicenza (continued)• Pediments over doorways and windows• Building was meant to be lived in “artistically:” central hall functioned

to hold learned discussions, hear music, etc.• Villa’s relationship to the setting may suggest a limitless vista; the

porches that face the horizon at the same time lead to the depths within; the spatial settings that emphasize one’s view of the world also add dimension to the view of someone from within

• The intimacy of the interior culminates in the great central hall

Palladio, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice•Clearly lit High Renaissance interior•Side aisles indicated on the façade•Mannerist: two temple façades intersect, creating an interplay of light and shadow•Columns with arches containing sculpture•Columns set on huge pedestals overwhelming the spectator•Dramatic setting in the Venetian lagoon•Location of intoretto’s “Last Supper”

S. Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

16th Century Italy

• From Realism to Idealism• From surface treatment to an understanding of

structure• Exploration of personality• Celebrating the dignity of humans as creatures

made by God• Retained a fascination with Classicism and Rome• A Balance of physical and spiritual forces• Mannerism opens the way to Baroque movement

and excess