Northern Italian Renaissance Painting, Architecture and...

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Northern Italian Renaissance Painting, Architecture and Mannerism Correggio Giorgione Titian Pontormo Parmigianino Bronzino Tintoretto Veronese Palladio

Transcript of Northern Italian Renaissance Painting, Architecture and...

Northern Italian Renaissance Painting,

Architecture and Mannerism

•Correggio

•Giorgione

•Titian

•Pontormo

•Parmigianino

•Bronzino

•Tintoretto

•Veronese

•Palladio

• While Rome ranked as

Italy’s preeminent arts center

at the beginning of the 16th

century, wealthy and

powerful families in

Northern Italy also

patronized the arts.

• Northern cities such as

Mantua, Parma and Venice

were home to talented

painters, sculptors and

architects and experienced a

Renaissance as well.

Correggio

• In his brief but prolific career, Correggio produced most of

his work for patrons in Parma and Mantua.

• His greatest work, the Assumption of the Virgin, a fresco

painted between 1526-30 in the dome of the Parma

cathedral, distantly recalls the illusionism of Mantegna’s

ceiling in the Gonzaga palace.

• However scholars believe that it was Leonardo who

inspired Correggio’s use of softly modeled forms, spot

lighting effects of illumination, and slightly hazy overall

appearance.

• Raphael’s influence is also apparent in the the idealized

figures.

• Some scholars refer to his style as PROTO BAROQUE

Correggio, Assumption of the Virgin, 1526-30 fresco

Parma Cathedral, Italy

Mantegna Correggio1471-74 1526-30

detail

St Peter and St. Paul

detail

• The architecture of the dome

seems to dissolve and the forms

seem to explode through the

building drawing the viewer up

in to a swirling vortex of saints

and angels.

• Correggio’s dramatic effects

with contrasting colors and

warm sensuous figures was very

often imitated in ceiling

decoration in Europe

throughout the 17th century.

Venetian artists and oil paint

• The idealized style and oil painting techniques initiated by theBellini family in the late 15th century were developed further by16th century painters in Venice.

• Venetians were the first Italians to use oil paint on both canvas andwood panel.

• Oil paint on canvas was preferred in Venice rather than frescopainting due to the city’s dampness.

• Painting on canvas rather than fresco, also allowed the artist tocomplete the work more conveniently in the studio.

• In addition, oil paint was especially well suited to the rich colors andlighting effects employed great Venetian painters such as:Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto.

Giorgione

• The career of Giorgione was brief; he died from the plaguewhen he was about 32 years old.

• Nevertheless his importance to Venetian painting iscritical.

• He introduced enigmatic or puzzling pastoral themes,sensuous nude figures, and above all an appreciation ofnature in a landscape setting.

• His early years are undocumented, but his work suggestshe studied with Giovanni Bellini.

• There also seems to be an influence from Leonardo in hisintensely observed landscapes.

GiorgioneAdoration of the Shepard, 1505-10, Oil on panel

Bellini

St Francis in Ecstasy

1480-85

Oil on panel

Giorgione

Adoration of the Shepard

1505-10

Oil on panel

Can you see Bellini’s influence on Giorgione?

The TempestGiorgione c. 1510

• The Tempest, Giorgione’s most

famous painting, was completed

shortly before his death.

• The subject of this painting is

immediately intriguing to the

viewer

• What is going on? Why is she

nursing the baby in the nude?

• The male figure on the left is

wearing the uniform of a German

mercenary soldier.

• According to x-rays of the

painting the woman on the right

was at one time balanced by a

second woman on the left.

• The landscape with its impending

storm seem to be of greater

importance than the figures.

• The painting ofthe nude as aninexplicablesubject and thedominance ofthe landscapeare typical ofGiorgione

• Tempest

• c. 1505

• Oil on canvas

• Galleriedell'Accaemia,Venice

• Detail the

Tempest

• Detail the

Tempest

• Detail the

Tempest

Giorgione and Titian

• Some scholars believe that Giorgione approached his work

as many modern day artists do, expressing private thoughts

and feelings in his paintings.

• Although he also painted traditional subjects produced on

commission for clients: portraits, altarpieces and paintings

on exteriors of Venetian buildings.

• In 1507, he was commissioned to paint the exterior of the

warehouse and offices of German merchants.

• He hired another young artist, Titian, as an assistant.

• The two artists worked together for the next three years,

until Giorgione’s early death.

• The two artists careers were tightly bound together.

• Titian and Giorgione, The Pastoral Concert

• C. 1508, oil on canvas

• Louvre

• Like poetry, the painting evokes a mood, a golden age of love and innocence

recalled in ancient Roman pastoral poetry.

• This kind of poetic painting is new in the history of art, and this painting had a

profound influence on later generations of painters who saw it and

reinterpreted it.

• Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, c. 1501

• oil on canvas, 43 70 inches, Dresden

• The Sleeping Venus, is an extremely influential painting.

• The painting, one of the last works by Giorgione, portrays a nude woman whoseprofile seems to follow that of the hills in the background.

• The choice of a naked woman marked a revolution in art, and is considered bysome authorities one of the starting points of modern art.

• The painting was unfinished at the time of his death.

• The sky was later finished by Titian.

• The landscape mimics the curves of the woman's body and this, in turn,relates the human body back to being a natural, organic object.

• The contemplative attitude toward nature and beauty of the figure is typicalof Giorgione.

• The composition of this painting influenced later painters such as, Ingres andRubens. A direct link connects the Venus of Giorgione to that of Titian, andhis Venus led directly to the Olympia of Manet.

What do we know about Giorgione’s assistant Titian

• Titian’s life as an artist is obscure.

• He worked with Giorgione for three years before Giorgionedied, finishing his paintings.

• By that time he had completely absorbed Giorgione’s style.

• When Giovanni Bellini died in 1516, Titian became theofficial painter of Venice.

• In 1519, Titian received a commission from Jacopo Pesaro,commander of the Vatican fleet, to commemorate his victoryover the Turks in 1502.

• Pesaro wanted a votive altarpiece for a Franciscan Church inVenice.

• Titian worked on the painting for seven years and changedthe concept three times before he came up with arevolutionary composition.

• Titian was principally a painter, buta painter whose handling of paintequaled Michelangelo's mastery ofdraftsmanship.

• This supreme skill enabled him todisregard all the time-honored rulesof composition, and to rely on colorto restore the unity, which heintentionally broke up.

• His painting, Madonna with saintsand members of the Pesaro family,was begun only fifteen years afterBellini's Madonna with saints torealize the effect that his art musthave had on his contemporaries.

• It was almost unheard of to movethe Virgin out of the center of thepicture, and to place the two saints -St Francis and St Peter, notsymmetrically on each side, asGiovanni Bellini had done, but asactive participants of a scene.

Bellini 1505 Titian c. 1520

• Titian's contemporaries may have

been amazed at the audacity with

which he had dared to upset the

old-established rules of

composition.

• They must have, at first, found such

a picture lopsided and unbalanced.

• Actually it is the opposite.

• The unexpected composition only

serves to bring the scene to life,

without upsetting the harmony.

• Titian allowed light, air and colors

to unify the scene.

• The idea of making a mere flag

counterbalance the figure of the

Holy Virgin would probably have

shocked an earlier generation, but

this flag, in its rich, warm color, is

such a stupendous piece of painting

that it works in this composition.

• The Venus of Urbino

• 1538

• Oil on canvas, 47 x 66 inches

• Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Titian 1538

Giorgione 1501

Isabella d’Este

• 1534-36

• Oil on canvas

• She was 60 when Titianpainted this portrait.

• She wanted to look 20

• She was the Marchesa ofMantua and one of theleading women of theItalian Renaissance anda major cultural andpolitical figure.

The Rape of Europa (1562) is a bold diagonal composition which was admired and

copied by Rubens. In contrast to the clarity of Titian's early works, it is almost baroque

in its blurred lines, swirling colors, and vibrant brushstrokes.

• Titian

• Crowning with Thorns

• c. 1570

• Oil on canvas

• 280 x 182 cm

• Alte Pinakothek, Munich

• Titian was the greatestpainter of the VenetianSchool.

• Over the course of his longlife he, like Michelangelo,continued to explore hisart’s expressive potential.

• In his late works, Titiansought the essence of formand idea not the surfaceperfection of his earlierworks.

• In 1570, he began apainting for his own tomb.A pieta, that was leftunfinished at his death.

• Titian

• Entombment

(Pieta)

• 1576

• oil on canvas

• Accademia

Venice

• The Virgin mourns her dead son as figures seem to emerge out of darkness, theirforms defined by sweeping brushstrokes that Titian painted with completefreedom.

• The elderly Titian, like Michelangelo, secure in their abilities after a lifetime ofmasterful work, were able to abandon the knowledge of a lifetime as theyattempted to express ultimate truths through art.

Mannerism in Florence and Rome

Mannerism• The term Mannerism comes from the Italian, maniera, a

word used in the 16th century suggesting intellectualintricate subjects, highly skilled techniques,and artconcerned with beauty for its own sake.

• It is difficult to neatly define Mannerism, but certaincharacteristics can be noted:

– Extraordinary virtuosity, sophisticated elegantcompositions; and fearless manipulations or distortionof accepted formal conventions.

• Artists created irrational spatial effects and figures withelongated proportions exaggerated poses and enigmaticgestures and expressions.

• Some artists favored obscure unsettling and often eroticimagery; unusual colors and juxtaposition; andunfathomable secondary scenes.

• Mannerist sculptorsexaggerated body forms andposes and preferred small size,the use of precious metals anddisplays of extraordinarytechnical skills.

• Mannerist architects defied theuse of the Classical orders anduniformity and rationality ofdesigns.

• Mannerist artists admired thework of the great artists of theearlier generation: Leonardoand Michelangelo, whose laterstyle was a direct inspiration, aswas Raphael’s, remember theTransfiguration.

• Mannerism has been seen as anartistic expression of theunsettled political and religiousconditions in Europe.

Pontormo

• View of the Capponi Chapel

• 1528

• Cappella Capponi

• Santa Felicita, Florence

• Open on two sides the chapel

creates the effect of a loggia, in

which frescoes depict the

Annunciation.

• On one wall the Virgin is

portrayed accepting the angel’s

message, but at the same time

she is able to see her son being

lowered off the cross in the

painting on the opposite wall.

Deposition

c. 1528

Oil on wood

Cappella Capponi,

Santa Felicita, Florence

Unrealistic placement of thefigures, some seem to float.

The emotional atmosphere ofthe scene is expressed inthe odd poses, dramaticshift in scale, and unusualcostumes.

Also the use of secondarycolors and contrastingcolors.

The tone of the painting is setby the color treatment ofthe crouching youth,wearing the skin tight pinkshirt.

Very stage like setting andlighting

Parmigianino

• Parmigianino

• Self-portrait in a

Convex Mirror

• c. 1524

• Oil on wood

• Dia. c. 10”

Kunsthistorische

Vienna

• Parmigianino

• Madonna dal Collo Lungo

• (Madonna with Long Neck)

• 1534-40

• Oil on panel

• 216 x 132 cm

• Galleria degli Uffizi,

Florence

• Parmigianino combined influencesfrom Correggio, Raphael and popularmannerist painters in Rome to createhis own distinctive style.

• His work is calm but strangleunsettling.

• This unfinished painting depicts aMadonna with massive legs and torsoin contrast to her narrow shoulders andlong neck.

• Note the large vase on the left, itechoes the shape of the Madonna’shead, the column her neck.

• Some scholars speculate that theartists is comparing a woman’s formto the forms of classical antiquity.

• Like Pontormo, Parmigianino presentsa well known image in a manner tounsettle the viewer.

• Who might the small figure on theright be? Perhaps Isaiah.

• The Conversion of St Paul

• Oil on canvas

• 177,5 x 128,5

Kunsthistorisches Museum,

Vienna

Bronzino

Bronzino

• Born near Florence in 1503

• In 1522 he became an assistant to Pontormo.

• In 1540 Bronzino became the court painter for the Medici.

• He was a versatile artist who produced altarpieces,frescoes, decorations and tapestry designs over his longcareer.

• He is best known today for his portraits in the courtlyMannerist style.

• Bronzino’s virtuosity in rendering costumes and settings,creates a rather cold and formal effect, but the selfcontained demeanor of his subjects admirably conveyedtheir haughty personalities.

Bronzino

• Martyrdom

of St Lawrence

• 1569

• Fresco S Lorenzo

Florence

• Remember Pontormo’s

paintings in the Capponi

Chapel ?

• Notice the small tondos

near the ceiling.

• These were painted by

Pontormo’s student,

Bronzino.

• St Matthew and St. Mark, oil on wood, 1525

• Dramatic Mannerist poses, lighting and color

• Bronzino

• Deposition of Christ

• 1545

• Oil on wood

• 268 x 173 cm

• Bronzino

• Venus, Cupid,

Folly, and Time

(The Exposure of

Luxury),

• ca. 1546.

• Oil on wood,

• National Gallery,

London.

The Portraits

“The firm and glacial way that Bronzino draws

outline and detail makes his portraits quite

unmistakable. At the same time they possess an

almost arrogant grandeur. This leads to a sense of

immobile and timeless refinement”.

Web Gallery of Art

• Bia

• The Illegitimate Daughter of

Cosimo I de' Medici

• c. 1542

• Oil on wood

• 63 x 48 cm

• Cosimo I de' Medici

in Armor

• 1545

• Oil on wood

• 74 x 58 cm

• Galleria degli Uffizi,

Florence

• Eleonora of Toledo with her

son Giovanni de' Medici

• 1544-45

• Oil on wood, 115 x 96 cm

• Galleria degli Uffizi,

Florence

• Eleonora married Cosimo I

in 1539 and died in 1562 of

malaria.

• She is pictured here with

Giovanni, one of her eight

sons.

• Archeological work in the

tomb of Eleonora, the wife

of Cosimo I de' Medici, has

revealed fragments of the

dress worn in this portrait.

• Portrait of a Young Man

• c. 1540

• Oil on wood

• 96 x 75

• Metropolitan Museum of Art

• New York

• This portrait demonstrates

Bronzino’s characteristic

portrayal of his subjects as

intelligent, aloof elegant, and

self assured.

• The young man toys with a

book suggesting his scholarly

interests but his cold stare

creates a slightly unsettling

effect and seems to associate

his portrait with the masks

that surround him.

Sofonisba

Anguissola

• Born in Northern Italy around 1532 to a comfortable well educated family

• She had 5 sisters 4 of whom were artists. Traveled to Roma and was tutored by Michelangelo

• Eventually became the court painter to the Spanish king, Philip II

Portrait of Three

Children

1570

• Praised by her contemporaries as theforemost woman painter of her day,Sofonisba Anguissola executed moreself-portraits than any other artist inthe period between Durer andRembrandt.

• This miniature displays the artist'smeticulous technique and aRenaissance taste for puzzles: theinterwoven letters at the center of themedallion form a monogram orphrase that has been satisfactorilyexplained.

• Around the rim, the medallion isinscribed in Latin: "The maidenSofonisba Anguissola, depicted byher own hand, from a mirror, atCremona.”

• Self-Portrait 1556

• (2 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.) Oil on parchment

• Self Portraits

• Left : 1556 Right: 1610

• About 25 About 79

• Sofonisba Anguissola’s Sisters, Lucis, Europa and Minerva playing chess

• The Chess Game, 1556

Mannerist Sculpture

• Benvenuto Celleni

• Giovanni da Bologna

• Characteristics:

– Elongated and or intertwinedfigures

– Use of negative space

– Compositions are oftencrowded with many details

Benvenuto Cellini

• Italian, goldsmith,sculptor and painter

• Saltcellar of King FrancisI, 1540-43

• Gold and enamel

• 10x13

• Roman Sea God Neptunerepresenting the source ofsalt sits next to a boat thatcarries the salt.

• Figure of Earth guards theplant derived pepper,contained in the triumphalarch.

• Reprentations of theseasons and times of dayare on the base

Benvenuto Cellini

• Perseus Holding the

Head of Medusa

• Bronze

• Outside of Florence

City Hall

• Symbolic of

Florence’s victories

in battle.

Giovanni

da Bologna• 1583, Marble

• Abduction of theSabine Women

• Spiral movement

• Precursor of Baroque

• Laocoon

• Unlike ancientsculptures, this piecewas carved from asingle stone.

• Symbolic of Medici(young guy) takingFlorence (woman)from the precedinggovernment (old man)

Lots of action and emotion, a preview to

upcoming Baroque period.

Venus UraniaGiovanni da Bologna

• 1573

• Bronze, 15 1/4”

• Da Bologna was inspired by

Michelangelo, but was more

concerned with graceful forms

and poses

• Unlike the Classical statues of

Venus, this Venus takes on a

very twisted pose, typical of

Mannerist sculpture

Mannerism in Venice

Painting and Architecture in Venice

Veronese

Tintoretto

Palladio

Venice and the Veneto

• Rather than the cool formal, technical perfection sought by

the Mannerists, painters in Venice expanded upon the

techniques begun in Venice by Giorgione and Titian.

• These painters were concerned with color, light and

expressively loose brushwork.

• The Veneto region, the part of northeastern Italy ruled by

Venice, also gave rise to new directions in architecture

under Palladio.

Veronese

• Born Paolo Caliari in 1528.

• From Verona, but worked mainly in Venice.

• His paintings are synonymous with the popular image of

Venice as a spectacular city pf pleasure and pageantry.

• His elaborate architectural settings and other everyday

scenes of Venice were immensely appealing to Venetian

patrons.

• His vision of a glorious Venice reached its peak in the

ceiling of the council chamber in the ducal palace.

• Apotheosis of Venice

• 1585, Oil on canvas

• 904 x 579 cm

• Palazzo Ducale, Venice

• This painting was commissioned

by the Venetian government.

• Rising above a bank of clouds,

the royally garbed personification

of Venice sits enthroned between

the twin towers of the city's

Arsenal, about to be crowned

with laurel by flying victories.

• Arrayed at her feet and offering

her wise counsel are

personifications of peace,

abundance, fame, happiness,

honor, security, and freedom.

• At the base, Venice's

smiling subjects seem

undisturbed by the

enormous size and

energy of careening

horsemen in their midst

reminder of Venice's

considerable military

might.

• Illusionistic

foreshortenings and

dramatic light effects

serve to give political

allegory a previously

unimagined dynamism

and visual excitement.

• Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi

• 1573 Oil on canvas, 555 x 1280 cm

• Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

• We are not sure which event in the life of Christ Veronese originally meant toportray in this painting, perhaps the Last Supper.

• He gave the painting its present title only after he had been summoned by thereligious tribunal of the Inquisition on the charge of filling his picture with“buffoons, drunkards, Germans, dwarfs and similar vulgarities” unsuited to asacred scene.

Tintoretto

=

• The Discovery of

St Mark's Body

• 1562-66

• Oil on canvas

• 400 x 400 cm

• Pinacoteca di Brera,

Milan

• The Stealing of the Dead

Body of St Mark

• 1562-66 Oil on canvas,

398 x 315 cm

• Gallerie dell'Accademia,

Venice

• Tintoretto

• Christ before Pilate

• 1566-67

• Oil on canvas

• 515 x 380 cm

• Sala dell'Albergo

Scuola di San Rocco

• Venice

• Tintoretto painted the Last Supper several times in his life.

• This version can be described as the feast with the poor, in which the figure of

Christ mingles with the crowds of followers.

• However, a supernatural scene with winged figures comes into sight by the light

around Christ’s head. This gives the painting a visionary character differentiating

it from paintings of the same subject made by earlier painters like Leonardo.

• The Last Supper, 1592-94, Oil on canvas, 365 x 568 cm

• S. Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Titian c. 1576 Tintoretto c. 1592

Andrea Palladio

Late 16th century Venetian architect

PalladioJust as Veronese and Tintoretto

expanded upon the rich Venetian

tradition of oil painting

established by Giorgione and

Titian, Andrea Palladio dominated

architecture during the second half

of the 16th century by expanding

on the principles of Alberti and of

ancient Roman Architecture.

His work - whether a villa, palace

or church - was characterized by

harmonious symmetry and

rejection of ornamentation.

• He was born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua, then part of theRepublic of Venice.

• Apprenticed as a stonecutter in Padua when he was 13, he broke hiscontract after only 18 months and fled to the nearby town of Vicenza.

• Here he became an assistant in the leading workshop of stonecuttersand masons.

• His talents were recognized in his early thirties by Count Gian GiorgioTrissino, who later gave him the name Palladio, an allusion to theGreek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athene.

• In 1541 he moved to Rome to study classic architecture.

• Palladian style is named after him; a style which adhered to classicalRoman principles, similarly to styles of the Early and HighRenaissance, when classical revivalism was at its peak.

• His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as thequintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony" (Watkin, D. AHistory of Western Architecture).

• Over the years he became involved in several publishing ventures,including a guide to Roman antiquities, an illustrated version ofVitruvius, and books on architecture that for centuries would be avaluable resource for architectural design.

Palladio’s plans

for the Villa Rotonda

c. 1560 Vicenza, Italy

• His books on architecture providedideal plans for country estates usingproportions derived from ancientRoman structures.

• In this plan for a country villa, you cansee his use of balance, proportion andsymmetry.

• It was named the Villa Rotondabecause it was inspired by thePantheon in Rome.

• Villas in Italy had traditonally beenworking farms, but Palladio designedvillas that were retreats for fun andrelaxation.

Andrea Palladio, Villa Rotonda (formerly Villa Capra), near

Vicenza, Italy, ca. 1566-1570.

• By the 18th century , Palladio’s books on architecture had been included inthe library of most educated people. Thomas Jefferson had one of the firstcopies in America.

Monticello,Thomas Jefferson’s Estate, c.1769

Palladio’s design 200

years earlier

In 1565, Palladio accepted a major architectural commission to design the monastery

church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

• His design for the Renaissance façade for the traditional

basilica plan elevation was ingenious.

• Inspired by Alberti’s solution in Mantua Palladio created the

illusion of two temple fronts of different heights and widths

one set inside the other.

Palladio c. 1565 Alberti c. 1470

• Andrea Palladio,

west facade of San

Giorgio Maggiore

• Venice, Italy

• begun 1565.

• Andrea Palladio, interior of San Giorgio Maggiore

• (view facing east), Venice, Italy, begun 1565

Note the similarities between these two church interiors. Can you tell

which is Brunelleschi’s and which is Palladio’s ?

• Works referenced:

• Marilyn Stockstad’s Art History: Second Edition (Volumes one and

two)

• Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Timeline of Art History.” Available

online at <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm>

• “The Web Gallery of Art.” Available online at <http://www.wga.hu>