High Renaissance and Mannerism

TIME PERIOD:
HIGH RENAISSANCE: 1495-1520 (ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE) 
MANNERISM: 1520-1600

  • SPAIN AND FRANCE INVADED ITALIAN PENINSULA 
  • ROME SUFFERED, CREATIVITY DESTROYED, MANNERISM EMERGED
  • PROTESTANT REFORMATION HAD A DRAMATIC IMPACT ON ITALIAN ART 
  • MANNERISM CONCERNS THE TENSION BETWEEN THE IDEAL, THE NATURAL, AND THE SYMMETRICAL AGAINST THE REAL, THE ARTIFICIAL, AND THE UNBALANCED 
  • REFORMATION MET BY CATHOLIC RESPONSE; JESUITS SAW POWER OF ART AS A TEACHING TOOL; BECAME PATRONS 
  • TRADE GUILD; ARTISTS COULD ACHIEVE FAME; MONARCHS COMPETED FOR THEM; POPE JULIUS II TRANSFORMED ROME INTO AN ARTISTIC CENTER AND CAPITAL OF THE RENAISSANCE 
  • COSIMO I OF FLORENCE CREATED A PAINTING ACADEMY; PORTABLE CANVASES 
  • SFUMATO: MISTY EFFECT; HAZY; CHIAROSCURO: SOFT TRANSITIONS BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARK; GLAZES GAVE ART A POLISHED LOOK
  • THREE QUARTER VIEWS; ARTISTS EXPECTED TO EXPRESS THE CHARACTER OF THE SITTER
VENETIAN HIGH RENAISSANCE PAINTING:

  • Florentines/Romans valued line and contour; Venetians preferred soft atmospheric ambiance; modulated use of light; sensuous figures 
  • Venetians imbue their saints with a more human touch, setting them in bucolic environments. This natural setting is called Arcadian. 
  • Painted in canvas; damp climate, wooden cracked, frescoes peeled/flake. 
  • Canvas more secure/lightweight. 
MANNERIST PAINTING
  • MANNRISTS DISCARD CONVENTIONAL THEORIES (LEADING EYE TO CENTRAL POINT); EYE WANDERS AROUND PICTURE PLANE 
  • DEFY CONVENTIONAL CLASSIC ORDER AND RATIONALITY 
  • STILL LIFE/GENRE PAINTINGS 
  • PAINTINGS CONSIDERED CRUDE REFLECTIONS OF HIGH RENAISSANCE ART
  • INTELLECTUAL ART FORM; COMPLEX; UNUSUAL COMPOSITIONS; EXAGGERATION OF FORMS; OBSCURE IMAGERY; PUZZLING, STIMULATING, CHALLENGING 
  • AMBIGUITY 
SUMMARY
  • ANTIQUE ELEMENTS IN ARCHITECTURE; AMBIGUOUS 
  • ARTISTS SOUGHT TO RIVAL ANCIENTS
  • VENETIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING
  • PIECES SOFT, SENSUOUS; SFUMATO AND CHIAROSCURO WIDELY USED TO ENHANCE THIS 
  • MANNERISTS BROKE CONVENTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS; DISTORTED FIGURES, ACIDY COLORS, UNUSUAL COMPOSITIONS
  • HIGHLY INTELLECTUAL WORKS; EVOCATIVE; CHALLENGE THE VIEWER'S PERSPECTIVE AND IDEAS 
  • STILL LIFES/GENRE PAINTING
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