Mannerism - El Greco
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Mannerism 1. Between 1520 and 1580 there
developed in Italy a stylistic
development evident in a number of
Artists that has since been broadly
defined as Mannerism
2. Michelangelo‘s work is described as a
forerunner of the style with his painting
‗The Last judgement often being
described as the first ‗mannerist
painting
3. It defines a certain artistic standpoint
rather than a specific style
4. Italian word ‗Maniera‘ which translated
means ‗Style‘ in a specific reference to
‗elegance‘
5. It is characterised by its self
conscious sophistication often
contrived or exaggerated elegance.
6. Heightened or sharp colour
combinations, complex and highly
inventive compositions
7. Technical bravado and free flowing
line.
The laurentian Library
1. 1523 – the Medici family commissioned Michelangelo commissioned
Michelangelo to design a library that would house over 10 000 books and
manuscripts
2. This is the forerunner of Mannerist architecture
3. The staircase was only built in 1559 which subsequently became recognised
as a masterpiece of decorative architecture inspired by classical forms
Aerial view. The Laurentian Library can be identified in the long row of windows
above the cloister extending to the left of the picture. The taller structure with two
rows of windows immediately to its right is the vestibule.
1. Built in a cloister of
the Medicean Basilica
di San Lorenzo di
Firenze under the
patronage of
the Medici pope, Clem
ent VII,
2. The Library was built
to emphasize that the
Medici family were no
longer mere
merchants but
members of intelligent
and ecclesiastical
society.
1. The books were not
kept in the
bookshelves.
2. Instead, the outside of
the reading seats had
lists attached to them,
showing the books to
be found in that
particular seat.
3. The books themselves
were chained to the
reading seat.
1. The admirable distribution of
the windows, the construction
of the ceiling, and the fine
entrance of the Vestibule can
never be sufficiently extolled.
2. Boldness and grace are
equally conspicuous in the
work as a whole, and in every
part; in the cornices, corbels,
the niches for statues, the
commodious staircase, and its
fanciful division-in all the
building, as a word, which is
so unlike the common fashion
of treatment, that every one
stands amazed at the sight
thereof. – Giorgio Vasari
Jacopo
Pontormo 1494 – 1557
1. At the age of 18 he entered the
workshop of Andrea del Sarto,
and it is this influence that is
most apparent in his early
works.
2. Pontormo very gifted from
youth and by the time he
painted his Joseph in Egypt in
about 1515 he had already
created a distinctive style
3. Full of restless movement and
disconcertingly irrational
effects of scale and space - that
put him in the vanguard of
Mannerism.
4. In 1518 he completed an
altarpiece in the Church of San
Michele Visdomini, Florence,
that also reflects in its agitated
- almost neurotic -
emotionalism a departure from
the balance and tranquillity of
the High Renaissance.
Joseph in
Egypt
1515-18
The painting belongs to the series of four entitled Scenes from the Life of Joseph
the Hebrew
the thesis proposed by Mannerism is fully elaborated: 1. the painter is no longer to be bound by perspective
2. or by the necessity of presenting his subject in a rational, objective manner.
3. He may use light and colour, chiaroscuro and proportion as he pleases;
4. he may borrow from any source he chooses;
5. the only obligation upon him is to create an interesting design, expressive of the ideas
inherent in the subject,
6. and the various parts need bear no relationship to each other.
7. The colour must be evocative and beautiful in itself.
The painting is divided into
four distinct zones.
1. In the left foreground
Joseph presents his
family, who he invited to
move to Egypt, to the
pharaoh; According to Vasari, the
boy with dark cloak and
brown tunic sitting on the
first step of the stairs on
which the figures are
arranged, is a portrait of
the young Bronzino (his
adopted son)
This work, traditionally entitled Joseph
in Egypt, depicts the most significant
episodes of Joseph reuniting with his
family of origin.
2. On the right, Joseph is seen sitting
on a triumphal cart pulled by three
putti; hoisting himself up with his
left arm and clutching firmly onto a
putto with the other,
a. He bends toward a kneeling
figure who is presenting him a
petition or reading him a
message
b. A fifth putto, wrapped in a piece
of cloth blown by the wind,
dominates the scene from the
top of a column, appearing to
mime the gesture of one of the
two half-living statues
represented in the top left and
centre of the painting.
1. A restless crowd, curious to see what is going on, throngs the adjacent
space between the two buildings in the background.
2. Other mysterious figures, resting against one of the large boulders that
dominate the landscape, turn their attention toward the action in the
foreground.
3. Two half living statues are represented at the top of the painting
The clothes, expressions and
features of all these figures are
inspired by northern European
painting, as is the large castle and
surrounding trees depicted in the
background.
3. On the unrailed staircase of the
imposing cylindrical building to
the right, Joseph takes one of
his children by the hand; higher
up, the other is greeted
affectionately by his mother.
4. Lastly, Joseph and his sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh, are
portrayed inside the room at the
top of the building, where
Jacob, now old and near to
death, imparts his paternal
blessing.
i. The curious combination
of all these elements tells
a story that is as puzzling
as it is disjointed
Cosimo il Vecchio 1520
1. posthumous
representation painted,
according to Vasari, for
Goro Gheri da Pistoia,
secretary to the Medici.
2. based upon previous
portraits, and particularly
a medal
3. more a symbolic than a
true physical likeness.
Madonna and Child with
Saints
1518 San Michele Visdomini
in Florence. 1. Portrays the Virgin with St
John the Evangelist, he
echos symbolically the
pose of the infant Jesus.
2. Joseph, holding the baby
Jesus, the young St John,
St Francis and St James,
the latter being the artist's
self-portrait.
3. The exaggerated
expressions of the figures
and agitated poses all
seem to create an
atmosphere which at first
appears classically
composed but
4. Demonstrates an
underlying restlessness
1. The emotional tension apparent in
his work reaches its peak in
Pontormo's masterpiece, the
altarpiece of the Entombment
(c.1526-8) in the Capponi Chapel of
Santa Felicità, Florence.
2. Built by Brunelleschi for the
Barbadori family at the begriming of
the fifteenth century.
3. The façade of the Church was
remodelled in 1564 with a porch
added by Vasari to support a coridor
linking the Palzzo Vecchio with the
Pitti Palace.
4. Painted in extraordinarily vivid
colours and featuring deeply
poignant figures who seem lost in a
trance of grief, this is one of the key
works of Mannerism.
View of the Capponi Chapel 1528
street guide to Florence – Church Santa Felicita
The section known as the Oltrano
14 – Church Santa Spirito
15- Palazzo Pitti
The decoration of the
Cappella Capponi in Santa
Felicità is completed by the
Annunciation frescoed on
the wall of the window.
Below - . The Capponi Family
Chapel is to the right of the
entrance.
1. The Deposition can perhaps justly be
described as the artist's masterpiece.
2. The compositional idea is extravagant
and totally unprecedented:
1. an inextricable knot of figures and
drapes that pivots around the
bewildered youth in the foreground
and culminates above in the two
lightly hovering figures emerging
from vague background.
2. This complicated bunch of forms
arranged in the shape of an
upturned pyramid defies any
attempt at a rational exploration or
identification of planes.
3. The compositional halfway between the
theme of the Deposition and that of the
Pietà or Lamentation over the Dead
Christ. The distraught Virgin, gestures
with her right arm in the same direction.
In the centre of the painting
4. The twisted body of Christ is
reminiscent of Michelangelo's Vatican
Pietà (1498).
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486 – May 18, 1551)
1. Domenico was born in Montaperti,
near Siena, the son of Giacomo di
Pace, a peasant who worked on the
estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi.
2. Seeing his talent for drawing,
Lorenzo adopted him, and
commended him to learn painting
from Mechero, a lesser Sienese
artist.
3. A member of the High Renaissance
generation, his years in Rome
(1510-12) saw the painting of
Raphael's Stanze and
Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling,
both of which influenced him.
4. In such works as the St Catherine
Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1515,
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena) he
appears also to have been affected
by Fra Bartolomeo, whose work
was known in Siena.
The stigmatization of St Catherine
1. Sienese saint like St Francis of
Assisi, Catherine miraculously
receives the signs of the
Cross.
2. Catherine appears on bent
knee with palms extended, her
youthful face fixed upon the
crucifix hanging on the wall.
3. In this picture, light acts as a
concrete protagonist.
4. A worn out theme of local
deities transcribed into saints
or martyrs and various
fraternities started by a
particular visionary.
5. Gets a new lease on life by the
new vision.
1. In addition to
painting, he
also directed
the celebrated
pavement of the
cathedral of
Siena from
1517-1544
2. This took over a
century and a
half.
3. The pavement
is designed in
commesso
work
4. white marble
engraved with
the outlines of
the subject in
black, the
borders are
inlaid with rich
patterns in
many colours
1. Beccafumi made some
ingenious technical
improvements in building
this pavement
2. He designed 35 splendid
mosaics from 1517 to 1546
for the pavement in Siena
Cathedral, each mosaic
depicting a different Old
Testament scene.
3. Beccafumi's best-known
paintings are the ceiling
frescoes of the Palazzo
Publico in Siena and an
altarpiece in the same
building. Most of his best
works, such as the Birth of
the Virgin (c. 1543) are in
Siena.
In 1516 to 1518 the Sienese brotherhood of Mary and Bernardino commissioned
Girolamo del Pacchia, Sodoma, and Domenico Beccafumi to fresco the walls of
their oratory with a cycle on the life of Mary, The artists painted two stories each:
Pacchia, the Birth of Mary and the Annunciation; Sodoma, the Presentation of the
Virgin and the Coronation of Mary; and Beccafumi, the Betrothal of Mary and the
Death of the Virgin.
On the side walls of the room there is a series of large-scale fresco paintings separated from one another
by pilasters decorated with candelabra motifs. The paintings consist of narrative scenes from the life of
the Virgin. Beccafumi had been entrusted with painting the Betrothal and the Dormition.
Beccafumi received a commission from
the Carmelite friars of San Niccolo al
Carmine for a panel representing St
Michael subduing Lucifer.
The artist produced two versions the
earlier one shown here is now in the
Pinacoteca, the second is still over a
side altar on the south wall of the
church of San Niccolo al Carmine, but
without its original predella.
1. This painting was produced during
the period Beccafumi was closest to
Michelangelo whose Last Judgment
was only recently finished when
Beccafumi painted this panel.
2. Elongated muscular nudes recall the
nudes of Michelangelo
3. But there is little formal connection
between the two artists.
4. picture is probably unfinished
• The earlier of these two versions of the expulsion of the rebel angels from
heaven by the Archangel Michael is at first sight difficult to read:
• the lower part of the painting is dominated by the tall, elongated figures of three
standing nude men.
• It requires some effort to discern that, within the gloom that surrounds them,
other figures are shown in convoluted poses
• Upper part of the painting, encircled by a swirling mass of flying angels, is the arresting
figure of Saint Michael.
• Clad in fanciful antique armour, he holds his sword aloft as a sign of his victory over the
vanquished rebel angels.
• Above him in turn appears an extraordinarily daring representation of God, portrayed in
extreme foreshortening. As the deity presiding over this act of heavenly vengeance, he
appears as an insubstantial - but certainly visionary - phenomenon.
The second version, by comparison, is much more clearly organised.
• God appears as a monumental figure, seated in judgement.
• The bright red of his voluminous mantle and the golden hemisphere behind him
ensure that this figure dominates the composition as a whole.
• The angelic company is organised into an orderly choir of seated figures
surrounding God, with only a few of their companions engaged in expelling the
rebel angels.
• Saint Michael has been placed much lower in the composition and acts as the
principal agent between heaven and hell.
• Although still holding a sword above his head, he has been divested of armour
and appears in a pale pink and golden yellow tunic, tied across the chest with
pale blue ribbons.
• Beneath him, the fallen angels recline in a series of subterranean vaults lit by
sulphurous light.
• The devil has been transformed into a snarling monstrous beast that has the
appearance of a classical chimaera.
Sister Wendy Beckett
1. Sudden transitions from dark to
light
2. Oddly proportioned figures and
3. Unusual acidic colours
4. His figures seem to loom up at the
viewer and his use of perspective
is highly sophisticated yet very
personal
5. His fall of the rebel angels tangle of
dimly lit forms hallucinatory it its
horror
6. Element of Sienses painting still
vaguely present.
Born in Candia, on the island of Crete. Nothing is known of his parentage. He was
trained as icon-maker in a monastery; he then went to Venice (soon after 1560),
where Titian(1488/90 - 1576) became his greatest mentor
El Greco - Domenicos
Theotocopoulos (c.1541 –
1614)
1. El Greco' signature on the
base of the central
candelabrum was
discovered in 1983.
2. This discovery constituted a
significance advance in the
understanding of El Greco's
early career and formation.
3. In both its iconography and
technique the painting
demonstrates the artist's
origins and training in the
traditions of post-Byzantine
painting.
1566 - Referred to in a Cretan document as a master painter
• soon afterwards he went to Venice since Crete was then a Venetian possession
1570 - moved to Rome
• Became a pupil of Titian, but of all the Venetian painters Tintoretto influenced him most
and Michelangelo made a huge impact on him.
Christ healing a
blind man 1567
• Travelled between Venice, Rome and Spain (eventually settling in Toledo in Spain)
• His work is characterised by elongated figures straining upward
• Painted in intense unusual colours.
• His paintings reflect Spanish tradition of religious intensity and neo Platonism.
• Influenced by the mysticism of the Counter Reformation.
Early science, particularly geometry and
astronomy/astrology (astronomia), was
connected to the divine for most
medieval scholars. The compass in this
13th Century manuscript is a symbol of
God's act of Creation,
The earth was at the center of the
universe; the planets (the moon,
Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn) the stars and the heavenly
regions rotated around earth (and man).
Ptolemy
The prevailing theory in Europe
throughout the middle ages was
that created by Ptolemy in his
Almagest, dating from about 150
A.D.
The Ptolemaic system drew on
many previous theories that viewed
Earth as a stationary center of the
universe. (geocentric)
Stars were embedded in a large
outer sphere which rotated
relatively rapidly, while the planets
dwelt in smaller spheres between —
a separate one for each planet.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
believed the universe is
finite and spherical with a
stationary earth at its
center. Enclosing the
whole universe is the
sphere of the Prime
Motion turned by the
First Unmoved Mover.
Inside that were
transparent spheres
containing fixed and
unchanging stars,
planets, moon and sun.
The universe. . . a celestial clockwork?
Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May
1543)
The major parts of Copernican theory are:
1. Heavenly motions are uniform, eternal, and
circular or compounded of several circles
(epicycles).
2. The center of the universe is near the Sun.
3. Around the Sun, in order, are Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the
fixed stars.
4. The Earth has three motions: daily rotation,
annual revolution, and annual tilting of its axis.
5. Retrograde motion of the planets is explained
by the Earth's motion.
6. The distance from the Earth to the sun is
small compared to the distance to the stars.
Jan Matejko –The astronomer Copernicus: Conversation with God.
19th Century romanticized view of Copernicus science a divine revelation born in the
psyche of man himself.
The foremost philosopher physicist astronomer of the Renaissance was Galileo (1564-
1642)
He believed in a heliocentric view of the world (the earth revolves around the sun) was
considered a heretic by the Church.
He developed a telescope that was powerful enough to show the craters in the moon.
In 1633 he was put under house arrest for his astronomical teachings, later he was
forced to disown these views publicly.
Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition - Cristiano Banti 1857
the Laocoon 1610 - The Trojan War is the event depicted from Virgil‘s Aeneid
The Priest Laocoon of Troy finds out about the Trojan horse and tried to warn the city
He is prevented by the God Apollo who sends snakes out of the sea to devour them.
He is punished because he broke his priestly vow.
Who are the nude figures on the right of the
painting?
One of the women seems to be double headed.
The serpents seem ineffectual and thin we ask why
these men are over come so easily?
This appears more an allegory rather than a straight
forward story.
The Serpents
The circular tension
caused by the snake
and the boy creates a
physical tension.
He is destined to end up
like his dead brother.
Around his arm is a
band of black that
emphasises his rigid
arm. The figures all have
a black edge that
emphasises the stony
skin colour.
An allegorical horse trots
towards the city which is
spread out under a portentous
sky.
This not the city of Troy but
the home of El Greco of
Toledo in Spain.
The Counter Reformation was
prevalent in Spain and the
drama of transgressing
mortals and vengeful Gods is
a reflection of the beliefs of
the day.
Disrobing of Christ. 1577-1579.
El Greco. The Burial of Count
Orgaz. c.1586.
El Greco. St. Francis Receiving
the Stigmata. 1590-1595.
El Greco. St. Dominic in Prayer. c.
1585-1590.
Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple. c. 1600.
Mannerism • Derived from Italian word
‗Maniera‘ which in the 16th C meant ―style‖ in the sense of ―elegance‖
• A bit misleading and has lead to much confusion and disagreement
– Style does constitute an essential element in mannerism
– The style is somewhat ‗mannered‘
• Self consciously sophisticated often contrived or exaggerated elegance
• Heightened or sharp colour combinations complex and highly inventive composition and technical bravado
• Depending on the historical account, Mannerism developed between 1510 and 1520 in either Florence, Rome, or both cities.
• The early Mannerists in Florence—especially the students of Andrea del Sarto:
• Jacopo da Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino—are notable for elongated forms, precariously balanced poses, a collapsed perspective, irrational settings, and theatrical lighting.
• Parmigianino, a student of Correggio, and Giulio Romano, Raphael‘s head assistant were moving in similarly stylized aesthetic directions in Rome.
• These artists had matured under the influence of the High Renaissance, and their style has been characterized as a reaction or exaggerated extension of it.
• The earliest experimental phase of Mannerism, known for its "anti-classical" forms, lasted until about 1540 or 1550.
Portrait of a Young man – Andrea
del Sarto 1517
Correggio – Jupiter and Io 1531
• In past analyses, it has been noted that mannerism arose in the early 1500s alongside a number of other social, scientific, religious and political movements such as the Copernican model, the Sack of Rome, and the Protestant Reformation's increasing challenge to the power of the Catholic Church.
• Because of this, the style's elongated forms and distorted forms were once interpreted as a reaction to the idealized compositions prevalent in High Renaissance art.
• This explanation for the radical stylistic shift c. 1520 has fallen out of scholarly favor, though the early Mannerists are still set in stark contrast to High Renaissance conventions;
• the immediacy and balance achieved by Raphael's School of Athens, no longer seemed interesting to young artists. Indeed, Michelangelo himself displayed tendencies towards Mannerism, notably in his vestibule to the Laurentian Library built in 1525
• Rosso (Giovanni Battista di
Jacopo, 1494-1540)
• Emigrated to France where he was
known as Rosso Fiorentino ‗the
Florentine‘
• Deeply neurotic man art almpost a
flouting against normal xpectations
• Bolddissonant colour contrasts
• Figures fill the picture plane
• Eg. Moses with the daughters of
Jethro a fanstastic jumble of bodies
huge agitated Michelangelo
wrestlers with the pale terrified girl
• The idea of violence is central to the
painting rather than a narration.
Pontormo
His master piece is ―the deposition‖ painted for
a private chapel in Florence
Has a luminescent quality on account of the
lighting and colour combinations partly to
overcome the dark interior of the chapel
But also
Is about an sense of emotional intensity
Overriding sense of vulnerability and loss.
Contrast between the long athletic limbs and
classical bodies and the expressions of anxiety
and confusion makes the scene more pitiful
• Giovanni Della Casa, better known as Bishop or Monsignor Della Casa
Dellacasa (1503 -1556 ) was a
religious , scholar and writer, Italian , known not only to scholars primarily as author of the manual of good manners Etiquette overo de 'costumes (probably written after 1551 but published posthumously in 1558 ) that since the publication enjoyed great success.
• Pontormo‘s brilliantly observed portrait shows the prelates long aristocratic face above his auburn beard
• Hemmed in by the walls of his room, rigid, defensive challenging look serious minded and aloof scholar
• The painting has a pleasing effect in a design sense
This is a study for the painting in the parish church of San Michele at Carmignano (Florence).
The drawing reveals some significant differences compared to the painted version. The preparatory
design shows the two women in a frontal pose and more to the left compared to their position in the
painting. The drapery around the four figures is less ample and thus diminishes the group's compactness,
while the brisk pencil strokes delineating the faces of the companions or maidservants of the
protagonists express in them a certain psychological agitation, which in the painting is totally absent
Pontormo
Visitation
1528-29
• Joseph in Egypt
• The painting belongs to the series of four entitled Scenes from the Life of Joseph the Hebrew, now in the National Gallery, London.
• These works, together with others by Andrea del Sarto, Francesco Granacci, Bachiacca and Franciabigio, were intended for the decoration of the nuptial chamber of Francesco Borgherini and Margherita Acciaioli, who married in 1515.
• The group of fourteen paintings, broken up at the end of the 16th century, was contained within a wooden decoration made by Baccio d'Agnolo.
• The painter is no longer to be bound by perspective, or by the necessity of presenting his subject in a rational, objective manner.
• He may use light and colour, chiaroscuro and proportion as he pleases; he may borrow from any source he chooses; the only obligation upon him is to create an interesting design, expressive of the ideas inherent in the subject, and the various parts need bear no relationship to each other.
• The colour must be evocative and beautiful in itself.
• Depicts the most significant
episodes from the life of
Joseph when he unites with
his family of origin
• Divided into 4 scenes – Left foreground
– Joseph presents his family to
Pharaoh
– According to Vasari according
to Vasari, the boy with dark
cloak and brown tunic sitting
on the first step of the stairs on
which the figures are arranged,
is a portrait of the young
Bronzino.
• On the right, Joseph is seen sitting on a triumphal cart pulled by three putti; hoisting himself up with his left arm and clutching firmly onto a putto with the other, he bends toward a kneeling figure who is presenting him a petition or reading him a message
• a fifth putto, wrapped in a piece of cloth blown by the wind, dominates the scene from the top of a column, appearing to mime the gesture of one of the two half-living statues represented in the top left and centre of the painting.
• A restless crowd, curious to see what is going on, throngs the adjacent space between the two buildings in the background.
• Other mysterious figures, resting against one of the large boulders that dominate the landscape, turn their attention toward the action in the foreground.
• The clothes, expressions and features of all these figures are inspired by northern European painting, as is the large castle and surrounding trees depicted in the background.
• On the unrailed staircase of the imposing cylindrical building to the right, Joseph takes one of his children by the hand; higher up, the other is greeted affectionately by his mother. Lastly, Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are portrayed inside the room at the top of the building, where Jacob, now old and near to death, imparts his paternal blessing.
Bronzino • 1503 – 1572 Florentine
the pupil and adopted son of Pontormo
• This is one of Bronzino's finest works from the early 1530s. It shows the painter's admiration for the famous poet.
• The book in Dante's hand is open at the introduction to Canto XXV of the Paradise.
• lacked the emotional intensity that was such a characteristic of Pontormo's work and excelled as a portraitist rather than a religious painter.
• court painter to Duke Cosimo I de Medici for most of his career, and his work influenced the course of European court portraiture for a century.
• Lucrezia di Gismondo Pucci married in 1528
– typical of Bronzino's art, the lady is dressed sumptuously in warm pink satin and dark
velvet. A book is held between her aristocratic hands and her severe, pure face is utterly
devoid of any naturalistic beauty. The artist makes this lady of a refined and cultured
Florentine society an idealized symbol of chaste beauty (note the delicately, but also
chastely gathered hair) and high spirituality.
• Portrait of a Lady in Green - 1530-32
Allegory with Venus and
Cupid • This work was probably
created at the Tuscan court of
Duke Cosimo de' Medici for
presentation to the King of
France.
• It was designed as a puzzle,
and incorporates symbols and
devices from the worlds of
mythology and emblematic
imagery.
• It would have made the perfect
present for the French king,
known for his lusty appetites,
yearning after Italian culture
and magnificence, and with a
liking for heraldry and obscure
emblems.
• The goddess of love and beauty, identified by the golden apple given to her by Paris and by her doves, has drawn Cupid's arrow.
• At her feet, masks, perhaps the symbols of sensual nymph and satyr, seem to gaze up at the lovers.
• Foolish Pleasure, the laughing child, throws rose petals at them, heedless of the thorn piercing his right foot.
• Behind him Deceit, fair of face, but foul of body, proffers a sweet honeycomb in one hand, concealing the sting in her tail with the other.
• On the other side of the lovers is a dark figure, formerly called Jealousy but recently plausibly identified as the personification of Syphilis, a disease probably introduced to Europe from the New World and reaching epidemic proportions by 1500.
• The symbolic meaning of the central scene is thus revealed to be unchaste love, presided over by Pleasure and abetted by Deceit, and its painful consequences.
• Oblivion, the figure on the upper left who is shown without physical capacity for remembering, attempts to draw a veil over all, but is prevented by Father Time - possibly alluding to the delayed effects of syphilis.
Parmigianino • Girolamo Francesco Mazzola 1503
– 1540
• Born in Parma, from which he takes his nickname.
• He was a precocious artist, and as early as 1522-23 painted accomplished frescoes in two chapels in S. Giovanni Evangelista, Parma, showing his admiration for Correggio
• In 1524 Parmigianino moved to Rome, possibly via Florence, and his work became both grander and more graceful under the influence of Raphael and Michelangelo.
• The originality and sophistication he displayed from the beginning, particularly his love of unusual spatial effects, is, however, most memorably seen in his
• Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror 1524
• The Vision of St Jerome
1526-27
• Most important work of this time, showing the disturbing emotional intensity he created with his elongated forms, disjointed sense of space, chill lighting, and lascivious atmosphere
• The painting was commissioned by Maria Bufalini for her husband's family chapel at S. Salvatore in Lauro, Rome.
• The commission required the presence of two saints in the lower part:
– St John the Baptist was the patron saint of Maria's father-in-law, while
– Jerome was chosen because of his connection with the legal profession practiced by both her husband and his father.
• The artist chose to separate the two saints, with the Baptist dominating the lower portion while Jerome is shown sleeping to suggest that the painting represents his vision.
• John looks out and with an exaggerated gesture directs us to the Virgin and Child, who are floating in midair, a position that becomes popular in the sixteenth century.
• The complex and trained pose of the Baptist, the emphasis on foreshortened forms, and the long, unusually proportioned figures are all typical of Mannerist art.
• Parmigianino left Rome after it was sacked by German troops in 1527 and moved to Bologna.
• In 1531 he returned to Parma and contracted to paint frescoes in Sta Maria della Steccata.
• He failed to complete the work, however, and was eventually imprisoned for breach of contract.
• Vasari says he neglected the work because he was infatuated with alchemy — 'he allowed his beard to grow long and disordered ... he neglected himself and grew melancholy and eccentric.'
• His later paintings show no falling off in his powers, however, and his work reaches its apotheosis in his celebrated Madonna of the Long Neck (Uffizi, Florence, c. 1535).
• The forms of the figures are extraordinarily elongated and tapering and the painting has a refinement and grace that place it among the archetypal works of Mannerism
• The painting takes its subject from a simile in medieval hymns to the Virgin which likened her neck to a great ivory tower or column.
• Appropriate to the traditional understanding of the Virgin as an allegorical representation of the Church, this imagery was also exploited in poems.
• Thus the exaggerated length of the limbs of the Virgin and her son, as well as the presence of columns in the background of the painting, are not contrived merely for their decorative value, but clearly signal the painting's religious meaning.
This was painted for the church of Santa
Maria dei Servi at Parma.
The painter worked upon the picture for six
years, but this notwithstanding, it remained
unfinished.
It is a work of intense if somewhat aloof
poetical feeling, this effect mainly arising
from the splendid abstraction of the forms,
so smoothly rounded under the cool and
polished colour.
Lucrezia Borgia
• 1480 – 1519
• was born to the mistress of Rodrigo Borgia, Vannozza de Cattanei.
• A Spaniard, Rodrigo Borgia had studied law in Bologna and became a bishop, cardinal and vice-chancellor of the church when his uncle was elected.
• After Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI, he arranged for Lucrezia to marry Giovanni Sforza with the purpose of establishing an alliance with the powerful Milanese ducal family as Giovanni was an illegitimate son of Costanzo I Sforza.
• Vannozza had given Rodrigo two other children before Lucrezia: Giovanni, born in 1474, and Cesare, born in 1476.
• One year after Lucrezia's birth, Vannozza gave Rodrigo one more child, a son named Goffredo, born in 1481.
• Rodrigo loved each of his children, but his passion for Vannozza ran out and she left for a retired life, leaving a young woman named Giulia Farnese to fill the spot of Rodrigo's mistress. Lucrezia Borgian – By Dosso Dossi
• Historical record portrays Lucrezia Borgia as a beautiful, manipulative creature.
• She thought nothing of carrying out cold-blooded murders, some masterminded by herself others by her equally ruthless relatives.
• Swords, daggers, garrotting and poison were only a few of the Borgia‘s favoured methods of disposing of those who‘d displeased them or stood in the way of their political or material gain.
• The fact that one of Lucrezia‘s 3 husbands and various lovers died under mysterious or gruesome circumstances is no secret.
• But was Lucrezia solely responsible for their deaths, or were her jealous brother Cesare, and her father, Rodrigo, the actual masterminds?
• Rodrigo successfully forged an alliance with the House of Aragon and had Lucrezia married off to Alfonso, 17 year old nephew of the King of Naples.
• Relations disintergrated and he was dispatched by Rodrigo‘s assassins prompted by her brother Cesare Borgia who was a murderous thug, who apparently had an ongoing sexual relationship with Lucrezia.
• Lucrezia‘s third husband, Alfonso d‘Esta, wanted no part of an arranged marriage with so notorious a widow as Lucrezia Borgia, particularly after hearing rumours of how she was amusing herself while in still in mourning.
• The lurid Roman orgies Cesare arranged were supposedly never attended by Lucrezia, but this did not appease the cautious Alfonso. After continuing pressure from his father and the promise of a priceless dowry from the elder Borgia, Alfonso d‘Esta grudgingly agreed to marry Lucrezia.
• Lucrezia and Alfonso‘s alliance endured and she bore him four children. Despite their supposed happy marriage, Lucrezia carried on numerous affairs.
• One ended in another messy scandal when the young poet, Ercole Strozzi, was discovered gruesomely murdered. Whether Lucrezia had him killed or whether Cesare succumbed to another fit of jealous rage has never been proven.
• In amongst all this scandal in the court of Ferrara worked a number of artists including Dosso Dossi
Dosso Dossi
1. Circe in a
landscape wth
her
lovers(portrait
of Lucrezia)
2. Portrait of a
man Possibly
Cesare Borgia
her jealous
brother
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi • (1486 –1551) active predominantly in
Siena.
• He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.
• 1509 he traveled to Rome, but soon returned to Siena,
• Beccafumi's style remains, in striking ways, provincial.
• In Siena, he painted religious pieces for churches and of mythological decorations for private patrons, only mildly influenced by the gestured Mannerist trends dominating the neighboring Florentine school.
• There are medieval eccentricities, sometimes phantasmagoric, superfluous emotional detail and a misty non-linear, often jagged quality to his drawings, with primal tonality to his coloration that separates him from the classic Roman masters.
• Fall of the rebel angels 1524
• Beccafumi received a commission from the Carmelite friars of San Niccolo al Carmine for a panel representing St Michael subduing Lucifer.
• The artist produced two versions
• The earlier of these two versions of the expulsion of the rebel angels from heaven by the Archangel Michael is at first sight difficult to read:
– the lower part of the painting is dominated by the tall, elongated figures of three standing nude men. It requires some effort to discern that, within the gloom that surrounds them, other figures are shown in convoluted poses.
– In the upper part of the painting, encircled by a swirling mass of flying angels, is the arresting figure of Saint Michael. Clad in fanciful antique armour, he holds his sword aloft as a sign of his victory over the vanquished rebel angels.
– Above him in turn appears an extraordinarily daring representation of God, portrayed in extreme foreshortening. As the deity presiding over this act of heavenly vengeance, he appears as an insubstantial - but certainly visionary - phenomenon
• The confusion of the scene suggests that the picture is probably unfinished, and a satisfying solution may have eluded the artist.
• Fall of the Rebel Angels 1528
• The second version, by comparison, is
much more clearly organised. Here God appears as a monumental figure, seated in judgement.
• The bright red of his voluminous mantle and the golden hemisphere behind him ensure that this figure dominates the composition as a whole.
• The angelic company is organised into an orderly choir of seated figures surrounding God, with only a few of their companions engaged in expelling the rebel angels.
• Saint Michael has been placed much lower in the composition and acts as the principal agent between heaven and hell. Although still holding a sword above his head, he has been divested of armour and appears in a pale pink and golden yellow tunic, tied across the chest with pale blue ribbons. Beneath him, the fallen angels recline in a series of subterranean vaults lit by sulphurous light. The devil has been transformed into a snarling monstrous beast that has the appearance of a classical chimaera.
El Greco • Domenicos Theotocopoulos,
later called El Greco, the Greek, by the Spaniards, was born in Candia, on the island of Crete.
• Nothing is known of his parentage. He was trained as icon-maker in a monastery; he then went to Venice (soon after 1560), where Titian became his greatest mentor.
• El Greco, however, obtained very little influence from his master; but a certain influence of Bassano, Baroccio, Veronese, and Tintoretto could be felt but on the whole his works are very individual and distinct.
• Tintoretto – Christ at sea of Galilee
• 1570
• By the time El Greco arrived in Rome, Michelangelo and Raphael were dead, but their example continued to be paramount and left little room for different approaches.
• Although the artistic heritage of these great masters was overwhelming for young painters, El Greco was determined to make his own mark in Rome defending his personal artistic views, ideas and style.
• He singled out Correggio and Parmigianino for particular praise,but he did not hesitate to dismiss Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel;
• The works of his Italian period are very different in style: Christ Healing the Blind Man (1560s), The Annunciation (1570-1575), Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple (c.1570).
• 1576
• El Greco goes to Spain.
• He managed to secure two important commissions from the monarch Philip II
– Allegory of the Holy League and
– Martyrdom of St. Maurice.
• However, the king did not like these works and placed the St Maurice altarpiece in the chapter-house rather than the intended chapel. He gave no further commissions to El Greco.
• The painter moved to Toledo in 1580, the old capital and then a major center of artistic, intellectual, and religious life in 16th-century Spain.
• He stayed in Toledo until his death.
• He arrived in Toledo by July 1577, and signed contracts for a group of paintings for the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo and for El Espolio.
• By September 1579 he had completed nine paintings for Santo Domingo, including The Trinity and The Assumption of the Virgin. These works would establish the painter's reputation in Toledo.
• El Greco did not plan to settle permanently in Toledo, since his final aim was to win the favour of Philip and make his mark in his court.
• View of Toledo by Elo Greco
• And Toledo today
El Greco. St. Francis Receiving
the Stigmata. 1590-1595.
El Greco. St. Dominic in Prayer. c.
1585-1590.
• The Assumption of the Virgin 1577
• was one of the nine paintings El Greco
completed for the church of Santo Domingo el
Antiguo in Toledo, his first commission in
Spain.
• 1586
• Painted The Burial of Count Orgaz (c.1586) for the church of St. Thomé, the success of which brought him a great number of commissions from the Church.
• He also became a popular portraitist: Portrait of a Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest (c.1580). His painting style always gave rise to much discussion.
• The Burial of the Count of Orgaz has been admired not only for its art, but also because it was a gallery of portraits of the most eminent social figures of that time in Toledo. Indeed, this painting is sufficient to rank El Greco among the few great portrait painters
• Inspired from a legend of the beginning of the 14th century. In 1312, a certain Don Gonzalo Ruíz, native of Toledo, and Señor of the town of Orgaz, died (his family later received the title of Count, by which he is generally and posthumously known).
• The Count of Orgaz was a pious man who, among other charitable acts, left a sum of money for the enlargement and adornment of the church of Santo Tomé (El Greco's parish church).
• According to the legend, at the time he was buried, Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine descended in person from the heavens and buried him by their own hands in front of the dazzled eyes of those present
• The painting is very clearly divided into two zones; above, heaven is evoked by swirling icy clouds, semiabstract in their shape, and the saints are tall and phantomlike; below, all is normal in the scale and proportions of the figures.
• The upper and lower zones are brought together compositionally by the standing figures, by their varied participation in the earthly and heavenly event, by the torches, cross etc
• The scene of the miracle is depicted in the lower part of the composition, in the terrestrial section.
In the upper part, the heavenly one, the clouds have parted to receive this just man in Paradise.
• Christ clad in white and in glory, is the crowning point of the triangle formed by the figures of the Madonna and Saint John the Baptist in the traditional orthodox composition of the Deesis.
• These three central figures of heavenly glory are surrounded by apostles, martyrs, Biblical kings and the just (among whom was Philip II of Spain, though he was still alive
• Saints Augustine and Stephen, in golden and red vestments respectively, bend reverently over the body of the count, who is clad in magnificent armour that reflects the yellow and reds of the other figures.
• The young boy at the left is El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel; on a handkerchief in his pocket is inscribed the artist's signature and the date 1578, the year of the boy's birth.
• The artist himself can be recognised with a raised hand immediately above the head of Saint Stephen.
• The men in contemporary 16th-century dress who attend the funeral are unmistakably
prominent members of Toledan society
the Laocoon 1610 - The Trojan War is the event depicted from Virgil‘s Aeneid
The Priest Laocoon of Troy finds out about the Trojan horse and tried to warn the city
He is prevented by the God Apollo who sends snakes out of the sea to devour them.
He is punished because he broke his priestly vow.
Who are the nude figures on the right of the
painting?
One of the women seems to be double headed.
The serpents seem ineffectual and thin we ask why
these men are over come so easily?
This appears more an allegory rather than a straight
forward story.
The Serpents
The circular tension
caused by the snake
and the boy creates a
physical tension.
He is destined to end up
like his dead brother.
Around his arm is a
band of black that
emphasises his rigid
arm. The figures all have
a black edge that
emphasises the stony
skin colour.
An allegorical horse trots
towards the city which is
spread out under a portentous
sky.
This not the city of Troy but
the home of El Greco of
Toledo in Spain.
The Counter Reformation was
prevalent in Spain and the
drama of transgressing
mortals and vengeful Gods is
a reflection of the beliefs of
the day.
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