VENETIAN RENAISSANCE and
INTERNATIONAL MANNERISM

Death as a theme in Renaissance art
 

  • The cold fact and the obvious math:
  •     Death as the "great leveler" –Holbein, Shakespeare  

Holbein's Dance of Death

  • The open question and spiritual dimension
  •     The afterlife as the "great leveler" –

 


(Dante): various kinds and degrees of punishment
Bosch: everyone belongs in Hell (including himself)
Islam,  Christianity: emphasis on the last judgment

 

Shakespeare (The Tempest) on death:


"Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solomn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made of, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep."

The prosperity of Venice

    • Geography
    • Economy
    • Surplus wealth allows for great learning;

-Leisure and resources

o        Library of St. Mark

o        Procession in St. Mark’s Square St. Mark's-- a story mirroring Chartres--

§         first church: 800s

§         976 fire leads to building of second church

§         more elaborate church 1063

§         1063 church modelled on Holy Apostles at Constantinople (no longer stands)

§         central dome surrounded by four domes (forming cross)

 

 

 

Painting in Venice

    • Oil on canvas was the medium of choice : recall Durer's travels to Venice (1495+)

-Giovanni Bellini

o        St. Jerome Reading

o        Madonna and Child


 
 

-Giorgione

o        Pastoral Concert

o        Tempest

-Titian

o        Assumption of the Virgin

 




Bacchus and Ariadne



Venus of Urbino









Tintoretto

Last Supper




Marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne





Veronese


"Last Supper"  --- Feast at the house of Levi


The Dream of St. Helen




International Mannerism

    • Maniera in Italian denotes manner or style. In English, "mannered" indicates, somewhat derogatorially, a highly personal, idiosyncratic, affected, exaggerated mode of behavior. In the arts all forms of mannerism imply fluency, virtuosity of execution, a high degree of sophistication, a sense of stylish-ness, often leading to certain overrefinement and self-consciously contrived attitudes."
    • Vasari uses the term de maniera to refer to "working in the manner of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael."

-the reduction of the aforementioned greats’ techniques to a system of rules.
 
 

-1) Rosso Fiorentino’s Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro
 
 
 
 

-2) Giovanni Bologna Rape of the Sabine Women
 
 
 
 

    • But knowing the rules soon turned into reacting to them and breaking them.
       

 

Jacopa Da Pontormo, Descent from the Cross (1529)

-has many qualities of early Mannerist painting: 1) crowded figures pushing forward and blotting out setting, 2) figures are organized around frame rather than center as had been customary, 3) no clear focal point, 4) space is manipulated insofar as it seems too shallow to contain the action within it (e.g., see the head above Christ), 5) twisting of figures, 6) juxtaposing colors, 7) departure from Renaissance harmony.

-1) Pontormo’s Joseph with Jacob in Egypt
 
-2) Parmigiano’s Madonna with the Long Neck 

-delicate and graceful even though space and proportions and events seemingly clash
 
 -3) Bronzino Allegory of Venus 

-meaning is ambiguous.  Cupid is fondling his mother, as Time pulls back curtain to reveal the whole thing.  Folly throws rose petals.

-Masks-sign of deceit
  -Even Bronzino's portraiture could be Mannerist; e.g., Portrait of a Young Man (1530s)

-aristocratic, without revealing personality
 
 

Mannerism in sculpture

 
1) Bologna, Rape of the Sabine Women

-Bologna is clearly aware of history of art:

a) Laocoon Group influence
b) Hercules Strangling Antaeus (by Pollaiuolo)
 
 

Mannerism in Architecture

                    1) Giulio Romano, Palazzo del Te in Mantua, Italy

                       -keystones seem to be slipping
                        -incongruity b/t columns and architraves
                        -some triglyphs seem unsupported

 

    • But only those who are sophisticated in the language, technique, and rules of art can enjoy mannerism. Thus, mannerism lasts only from about 1530-1590.