18 A Crisis of Art: Europe, later sixteenth century Flashcards
By around 1520, it was agreed that in Italy that the great masters –___________, ___________, ___________ and ___________ –had taken painting to the peak of perfection in both ___________ and ___________.
By around 1520, it was agreed that in Italy that the great masters –Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Titian –had taken painting to the peak of perfection in both harmony and realism.
What solutions did young artists find to the crisis of art brought about by the supposed perfection of the Italian Renaissance masters?
- Imitate the masters (peopling scenes with Michelangelo style nudes, etc)
- Surpass the masters by filling pictures with puzzles that only the learned can decipher
- Produce novel, unorthodox effects to show their invention
Andrea Palladio dates?
1500s –generation after Michelangelo and Raphael
1508-80
Identify, date, describe
Villa Rotonda, Andrea Palladio, 1550
Symmetrical villa with four identical porticos on each side in form of a temple facade.
Designed for one person to live in –built for retired priest.
Benvenuto Cellini dates?
1500s
1500-1571
Identify, date, describe
Salt cellar, Cellini, 1543
Cellini – Florentine sculptor and goldsmith
Made for Francois I of France. Cellini apparently was attacked by four bandits when carrying the gold from the king’s treasurer, and put them to flight single-handed.
Typical of restless attempts to create something more luxurious and interesting than previous generations.
Identify, date, describe
Madonna dal collo lungo, Parmigianino, 1534.
Unfinished at artist’s death.
Deliberate elongation of figures for sake of elegance, highlighted by entasis on tall column.
Madonna’s head and feet tiny, hips enormous.
Splayed figure of Christ echoes pietà - looks almost dead.
Refusal of classical rules of in asymmetrical composition. Deliberate attempt to be unorthodox –presages modern art.
Focus on aesthetics and interesting effects. Mirroring of vase and thigh of angel. Impossible perspective of prophet. Colonnade that vanished into distance. Affectation of Madonna’s gesture.
Relied on learned audience for paintings who understood rules of game.
What is Mannerism?
Mannerism, also known as the Late Renaissance, emerged around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 1500s in Italy, when Baroque style largely replaced it.
High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty,
Mannerism exaggerates these qualities, often resulting in compositions with following features:
compositions that are asymmetrical and lopsided
figures that are unnaturally elegant
irrational lighting effects
unrealistic tricks of perspective
Arose out of sense that everything in art had been achieved.
Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century.
Identify, date, describe
Mercury, Giambologna, 1580
Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne (called Giovanni da Bologna or Giambologna)
Mannerist style –elongated limbs
Supposed to suggest flight and weightlessness –far cry from Michelangelo approach, where sculpture is one with heavy block of matter out of which it was shaped
Giambologna dates?
Late 1500s, early 1600s
1529-1608
Tintoretto dates?
Mid-late 1500s
1518-94
Identify, date, describe
Finding of St Mark’s Remains, Tintoretto, 1562.
Venetian’s break into catacombs of Alexandria to find body of St Mark. Saint appears to denote his remains. Body already performing miracles, ridding man of demon. Donor on knees.
Lack of harmony in gestures and movement, clashing contrasts of light –but all to heighten dramatic intensity.
The linear logic of the emptied, boxlike perspective vistas is undermined by an irrational play of light and shade.
Identify, date, describe
St George and the Dragon, Tintoretto, 1558.
Breaking rules: weird light and broken tones add to excitement. Hero relegated to background, but
depicts of drama at its very climax, as spectator would see.
What did Vasari say about Tintoretto?
His work was careless in execution and eccentric in taste. Puzzled by lack of ‘finish’.
“His sketches are so crude that his pencil strokes show more force than judgement and seem to have been made by chance.”
Tintoretto considered painting finished when it had conveyed his ________ of legendary scene. A ________ and ________ finish might distract from ________ of picture.
Tintoretto considered painting finished when it had conveyed his vision of legendary scene. Smooth and careful finish might distract from drama of picture.
Identify, date, describe
Opening of the Fifth Seal, El Greco, 1614.
Passage from Revelation of St John, in which Lamb summons John to come and see the opening of the seven seals. Nude figures are martyrs who rise to receive the heavenly gift of white robes.
See lopsided composition à la Tintoretto, and mannerism of long figures like Parmigianino.
Painted in last year of El Greco’s life.
Upper portion of painting (175cm) destroyed by Spanish prime minister in 1880 during attempted restoration. Originally believed to depict Lamb opening seal. Now John is left pointing nowhere.
El Greco transplanted lessons of mannerism into a context of religious mysticism in Spain.
Identify, date, describe
El Greco, Brother Hortensio Felix Paravicino, 1609
Identify, date, describe
Darmstadt Madonna, Hans Holbein, 1526
Madonna depicted with donors.
Holbein absorbed lessons of Italian masters, classical arrangement of forms, focus on harmony. But also careful attention to detail and surface, and indifference to conventional beauty characteristic of North.
Identify, date, describe
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1537
Privy Councillor of Henry VIII, took part in dissolution of monasteries.
No doubt as to realism of portrait.
Early portraits rich in detail, to show character through items of his life. Later work shows masterly restraint –nothing distracts from character of sitter.
Composition perfectly balanced, including use of type.
Identify, date, describe
Georg Gisze, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532
Wealthy merchant and member of Hanseatic league.
Technique of showing sitter among the items of his life to convey character.
Identify, date, describe
Young man among the roses, Nicholas Hilliard, 1587
Hilliard was master of Elizabethan miniature painting, contemporary of Sir Philip Sidney and William Shakespeare.
Shift away from realism of Renaissance to ideals of courtly refinement and elegance.
Captures spirit of Elisabethan courtly love.
Identify, date, describe
The painter and the buyer, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565.
Shows importance to Bruegel of dignity of artist, to contrast with stupid-looking buyer fumbling with purse.
Focus on everyday scenes typical of Dutch art past-reformation.
Identify, date, describe
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Peasant Wedding, 1568
Mastery of composition –table receding into the background and total clarity without confusion.
Figures in foreground handing out food draw eye to bride.
Franciscan friar seated next to landowner or perhaps magistrate.
Painted with sense of warmth and generosity towards subjects.
Identify, date, describe
Nymphs from the Fontaine des Innocents, Jean Goujon, 1549
Type of Italian art accepted in France was elegant and refined Mannerism in style of Cellini.
