HUMANITIES: VENETIAN RENAISSANCE & MANNERISM – 16^TH CENTURY

HUM2230 – Lec_3_Venetian Renaissance and Mannerism_16thC - power point notes

(xx) Spirit of Renaissance shifted to Venice –

· . Independence of Venice and prosperity of its citizenry due in large part to the city’s situation

· . “a city in the water without walls”

· Secure from attack by land and by sea: possessed the largest navy then in existence; had control over entire Adriatic and much of the eastern Mediterranean seas.

· Active commerce between East and West: citizens enjoyed a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle.

· 1453 – fall of Constantinople to the Turks & rising power of the Ottoman Empire: competition for Venice’s commercial empire

o Naval warfare had already begun

· Marco Polo, explorer, from Venice, but 16th century voyages of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English navigators were bringing much wealth to rival countries.

· Venice: preparing to reassert their economic supremacy

· Embarked on an ambitious program of building and decorating to enrich their city and impress their rivals

(xx) Vittore Carpaccio: Lion of St. Mark – 1516 12’1” x 4’6” oil on canvas

What is the symbolism in this picture?

The Lion of St Mark, by Vittore Carpaccio, symbolizes the power of the Venetian Republic on both land and sea, with the lion standing with its hind legs in the water and its forelegs firmly on the rocky shore. It is also the symbol of the city’s patron saint, Mark the Evangelist. God is said to have visited St. Mark on the Evangelist’s arrival at the Venice lagoon. God’s angel is said to have greeted Mark with the saying as on the inscription of these tablets.

In the background, Carpaccio has given us a view of some of the places where the fortunes of the The Republic had prospered and grown for more than five centuries. In this extraordinary wide-angled view the artist gives us a detailed depiction of the basin of St Mark's . . . all the way to the heart of Venice . . . the ships depicting the naval strength.

(xx) Gentile Bellini – Procession in St. Mark’s Square - 1496

This gives us a good look at Venice on the eve of the 16th century. Bellini’s faithful recording is so accurate that architectural historians can make reconstructions of buildings, mosaics, and sculptures long since destroyed.

St. Mark’s Basilica represents Venice as the meeting place of the East and the West.

Building started in the 10th century and has taken centuries of community effort.

An early law required every Venetian ship to bring back materials for the construction or decoration of the church.

· e.g. Greco-Roman bronze horses of the 1st century C.E. over the central portal.

(xx) Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570): Mint and Library of St. Mark’s Square, Venice – begun 1535-37

Sansovino: native of Florence, settled in Venice in 1527. Venice had the finest marble, building materials, and skilled craftsmen.

More remarkable than its architecture is the institution of the library itself.

Poet Petrarch, Greek scholar Cardinal Bessarion, and other donors gave books to the library because in this city of water there was much less danger of fire.

. . . included specimens of the city’s elegant printing and bookmaking industry

Instead of flat surfaces, rusticated masonry, and fortresslike facades of the Florence and Rome city palaces, he molds his masses and voids in sculpturesque fashion.

We see the classical antiquity, the regularity and geometry of form indicative of the Renaissance period. (8)

(xx) Sansovino: Logetta for belltower – St. Mark’s Square Logetta: covered balcony

Campanile: belltower

(xx) Andrea Palladio: Mannerism

In 1570, Andrea Palladio (1508 –1580) published (The Four Books of Architecture) in Venice.

This book was widely printed and is largely responsible for spreading the ideas of the Renaissance architecture throughout Europe.

· these books were intended to be read and studied not only by architects, but also by patrons.

· architectural movement named after him known as Palladian architecture.

The Four Books of Architecture provided systematic rules and plans for buildings which were creative and unique at that time.

(xx) Palladio’s nine rule sets

(xx) Venetian Oil Painting – intro

Why was fresco painting that was so popular elsewhere not an option for the Venetian painters?

We can relate to the humidity problem!

From 1475 – pigments mixed with linseed oil, developed in the Netherlands – Venice stopped doing Frescos;

This led to a new kind of painting – could create layers of transparent color (or added little color, e.g., yellow) (glazes) – making innovative use of lighting

(xx) Titian: Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio - intro

(c. 1488/1490[1] – 27 August 1576[2] better known as Titian-was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in in the Republic of Venice.

· Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects.

· His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.[3]

· During the course of his long life Titian's artistic manner changed drastically[4] but he retained a lifelong interest in color.

· This early portrait (c. 1512) was long wrongly believed to be of Ariosto; it is more likely a self-portrait, and the composition was borrowed by Rembrandt for his own self-portraits.

(xx) Titian: Assumption of the Virgin

In 1516 for the first time, Titian attempted a monumental style. This was completed for a high altar of a church. This extraordinary piece of colorism, executed on a grand scale rarely before seen in Italy, created a sensation.

· This painting was intended to catch the attention of those entering the church from about 100 yards away.

· The dynamic vertical movement fits well into the Gothic style of the church.

· Heavenly and earthly spheres seem to converge

· Below, in deep shadow, are grouped the apostles, arms raised toward the intermediate zone and the ascending Madonna,

· Whose gesture in turn directs the eye to the dazzling brightness above.

· The upward motion then is arrested by the descending figure of God the Father surrounded by his angels.

Linear movement and gradations of light, as well as transitions of color from somber shades to light pastel hues . . Carry out his theme of the soaring human spirit triumphant over the gravitational pull of earthly considerations.

This new pictorial type was to have profound influence on the mannerist El Greco, the baroque sculptor Bernini, and a number of 17th century painters. His sumptuous coloring also became the model for later Venetians as Tintoretto and for such baroque masters as Rubens and Velázquez. (8, 319)

(xx) Titian: King Charles V - 1548

Titian had from the beginning of his career shown himself to be a masterful portrait-painter. Among portrait-painters Titian is compared to Rembrandt and Velázquez.

(xx) Titian: Bacchanal – 1518, oil on canvas, 5’9” x 6’4”

Discuss some structure / elements of this painting.

[context] Renaissance scholars sought out descriptions of the lost paintings of antiquity in classical texts. Titian's Bacchanal was inspired by the Imagines of Philostratus (born c. 190), who describes a perhaps fictional visit to an art gallery in a villa outside Naples. There he reputedly saw a painting depicting drunken [mythical characters] dancing on the island of Andros, where a river of wine runs perpetually. The brevity of Philostratus' text challenged Titian to invent his dramatic composition, which he partly based on other antique sources. [I could not verify this.]

(xx) Paolo Cagliari, known as Veronese

Paolo Veronese (1528 – April 19, 1588) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice,] and became known as "Veronese" from his birthplace in Verona.

Veronese is known as a supreme colorist, and for his illusionistic decorations in both fresco and oil.

Known for his bravura with the brush, the sensuousness of his surfaces.

Here, not so much concerned with Helen’s inner vision, as with the colorful splendor of the canvas.

(xx) Venetian Renaissance: Review

· Italian Renaissance ‘shifted’ to Venice

· Architecture

o Jacopo Sansovino – St. Mark’s Mint, Library

o Andrea Palladio – established standards

· Oil Painting

o Titian – Bachanal

o Veronese – Dream of St. Helen

· Nest: a look at European Mannerism

(xx) Mannerism 16th century background

• Europe in a state of acute crisis

• Events disrupted Renaissance sense of Harmony

• Realities of contradiction and conflict

• Affected every aspect of life

• Church Reforms of major proportions

• Territorial ambitions & lust for conquest

• Emperor Charles V- with the Spanish crown, lordship of Holland, Flanders, the Germanies, and Austria firmly in his grip- he then turns to Italy. One by one, the independent Italian duchies and city-states came under his domination

• King Francis I of France invaded northern Italy

• Voyages’ exploits: most Americas under Spanish crown

• Spain becoming most powerful country; Along with Spanish rule, came Spanish austerity and religiosity, etiquette and courtly elegance.

• Charles V next takes over many Italian duchies & city-states

• 1527: His mercenaries sacked Rome: Pope Clement VII prisoner

• Papacy had to submit to Spanish authority

• Spanish viceroy’s and governments installed in Italy

(xx) Mannerism: More Disruption

• Shocking scientific discoveries

• Extreme disorientation: What is man’s place in the universe?

• Peasant Revolts (inspired by Luther’s dissention)

• Invasions by the Ottoman Turks

• Piracy at sea

• Trials by dreaded Universal Inquisition

• Burning of the heretics

• Religious and Civil Wars

• Turmoil: upset ‘idyllic’ humanistic Renaissance

• Bound to find expression in the arts

(xx) What is Mannerism?

Mannerism is sandwiched in between Renaissance and the forthcoming Baroque style.

Like the crises it reflects, mannerism points in many directions.

The word ‘mannerism’ has different meanings. In Italian – denotes manner or style. In English “mannered” indicates, somewhat negatively, a highly personal, idiosyncratic, affected, exaggerated mode of behavior.

One reason for the dramatic change in style is that painters and sculptors living in this age knew that they were living in the shadow of such masters as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. They felt that there was no possibility of their improving on the craftsmanship. They found themselves at a crossroads.

Two courses of action: Follow the old paths & reduce ideas and techniques to workable formulas; or, go in a new direction – break the rules of ‘perfection’ for telling and dramatic effects.

The first course would mean working “in the manner” of the giants of the past, working even faster based on a system of rules. Some followed this course of ‘competent craftsmanship.’ These academic mannerist artists did not go to nature for models and subjects: they studied great works in order to master the techniques of the former geniuses. Art, for these, did not hold up a mirror to nature, but rather to art. This did not, however, exclude the intangible essence of inspiration.

(xx) Characteristics of Mannerist (Baroque) Art – Throughout Europe

· The more striking aspect of mannerism, however, lies in the violent reactions to and bold, dramatic departures from Renaissance rules and decorum.

· This generation of painters could no longer be thrilled by the mathematics of linear perspective or by finding the proper size and relationship of figures to their surrounding space.

· They found excitement in breaking established rules – many times with shock effect.

· Naturalism gave way to the free play of the imagination.

· Classical composure yielded to nervous movement, inappropriate expressions, contorted figures, and unbalance compositions.

· Clear definition of space became a jumble of picture planes crowded with twisted figures.

· Chiaroscuro served no more to model figures, but to create optical illusions, violent contrasts, and theatrical lighting effects. Subject matter may be intentionally obscure.

· Some of these tendencies were already present in the High Renaissance. E.g. Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. The exception in the High Renaissance, became the rule under Mannerism.

· Mannerism was never intended to have broad public appeal: the style appealed to the sophisticated, upper class, wealthy patrons.

(xx) Mannerism: Artists (list)

n Scupture

n Michelangelo

n Benvenuto Cellini

n Painters

n Michelangelo

n Veronese

n Parmagianino

n Bronzino

n Lavinia Fontana

n Tintoretto

n El Greco

(xx) Michelangelo’s “Victory”

Victory is yet another of many unfinished Florentine works of Michelangelo, presumably intended for the tomb of Julius II. 8’7” tall, marble. Created during his mannerist period between 1525-1530.

The grouping shown in Victory is one of the master's most original, showing an unnaturally elongated youth dominating the uncomfortably bent form of an older man. The extreme twist of the youth's body, the elongated torso are hallmarks of mannerist style.

(xx) Michelangelo’s Pietàs

Ca. 1547-1553: The Deposition (also called the Florence Pietà, the Pietà del Duomo or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ) is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. The sculpture, on which Michelangelo worked between 1547 and 1553, depicts four figures – the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea), Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence.

Michelangelo's last sculptures were two pietàs (or three assuming the Palestrina Pietà is his work). According to Vasari, Michelangelo made the Florence Pietà to decorate his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. After smashing the sculpture, he gave it to his servant Antonio. Later the servant sold the work and the new owner had it reconstructed by Tiberio Calcagni following Michelangelo's models.

The face of Nicodemus under the hood is considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself. Additionally, the female figure at left was finished by sculptor Tiberio Calcagni. Cacagni was assigned the job after Michelangelo abandoned the sculpture after eight years of tireless work upon discovering an impurity in the marble that had gone undiscovered until that point.

(xx) Benvenuto Cellini: Perseus

Large scale bronze casting in the over-life-sized, free-standing statue of Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Cellini chooses the moment just after the decapitation as Perseus holds high the head with its coiling, snaky locks while blood gushes forth in intricate patterns. This is mannerist extreme drama.

Cellini’s reputation rests as much on his flamboyant, swaggering autobiography as on his surviving works. The autobiography probably contains as much fiction as fact. It portrays him as a soldier of fortune, a statesman, an ardent lover, as well as a sculptor.

Benvenuto Cellini is an opera in French by Hector Berlioz based on Cellini's memoirs (1838).

Unorthodox lifestyle with a habit for getting in trouble (Meek)

(xx) Benvenuto Cellini Saltcellar of Francis I (on slide- right: Bust of Cellini)

[saltcellar] is sometimes referred to as the "Mona Lisa of Sculpture."

What is the symbolism? It allegorically portrays . . . Neptune, god of the sea (salt), and Ceres, goddess of the earth (pepper). Base: figures – 4 seasons, 4 parts of day – celebrating eating

Cellini writes about the two figures: that Earth is “fashioned like a woman with all the beauty of form, the grace and charm, of which my art was capable.” (8)

The sculpture is currently insured for over $60 million. It was stolen in 2003 from a museum which was covered by a scaffolding at that time. The museum had offered a reward and was recovered in 2006 buried in a lead box in a forest about 90 km north of Vienna. The assumed thief, Robert Mang, had turned himself in after police released surveillance photos that were recognized by acquaintances.

(xx) Michelangelo: The Last Judgment, 1536-41

n Sistine Chapel

n 48’ x 44’ - fresco

n Optimism & idealized beauty of ceiling . . .

n Replaced by stark (pessimistic) view, anatomical anomalies, lack of proportion, crowded figures

n . . . to be discussed in more detail during the lecture on the Counter-Reformation

(xx) Veronese: The Wedding at Cana

The Wedding at Cana, painted in 1562–1563, was . . . commissioned by the Benedictine monks for the San Giorgio Maggiore Monastery, on a small island across from Saint Mark's, in Venice.

The contract insisted on the huge size (to cover 215 square feet), and that the quality of pigment and colors should be of premium quality. For example, the contract specified that the blues should contain the precious mineral lapis-lazuli.([10])

The contract also specified that the painting should include as many figures as possible. There are three hundred portraits (including portraits of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese himself) staged upon a canvas surface nearly 30 feet wide.

The scene, taken from the New Testament Book of John, II, 1–11, represents the first miracle performed by Jesus, the making of wine from water, at a marriage in Cana, Galilee.

The foreground celebration, a frieze of figures painted in the most shimmering finery, is flanked by two sets of stairs leading back to a terrace, Roman colonnades, and a brilliant sky.

(xx) Veronese: Feast in the House of Levi

His most famous works are elaborate narrative cycles, executed in a dramatic and colorful Mannerist style, full of majestic architectural settings and glittering pageantry. His large paintings of biblical feasts that were commissioned for the refectories of monasteries in Venice and Verona are especially notable.

[context] This painting was originally titled The Last Supper. He was called before the Inquisition: the church fathers were upset about the portrayal with so many people, with animals, with German soldiers, etc. A historic document contains a summary of the painter’s actual testimony in which he defends his work to ‘paint pictures as I see fit as well as my talent permits.’ – and that he is following what his superiors have done – e.g. Michelangelo painted in the Chapel – the Lord, His Mother, St. John, St. Peter . . . All represented in the nude—and in poses with little reverence.

Before the court, he claimed he could not recall the names of all the disciples in his painting – 10 months had passed. This was his way of avoiding explanation of the portraits of Titian and Michelangelo seated at the table under the left and right arches. His brief testimony with the Inquisition is often quoted for its insight into contemporary painting technique.

Ordered by Inquisition to make changes.

Solution: Change the name of the painting – this place the painting outside the iconographic tradition.

This controversy with the Inquisition is a landmark in art history. By defending his work, Veronese raised aesthetic and formal values above those of subject matter.

Refectory: A room where meals are served, especially in a college or other institution.

(xx) Parmagianino: Madonna with the Long Neck – 1534-40 Oil on wood 85” x 52”

What is mannerist about this?

A picture with gracefulness, elegance, and extreme refinement . . . But . . .

• A Virgin Mary elongated from head to toe and holding a Christ child who is equally elongated. Note Mary’s neck, her hand, her fingers, her feet and the distance between her navel and her toes.

• The swanlike neck is paralleled by the strange rising column that supports nothing.

• Note the unbalanced composition with figures spilling off the left side of the canvas

• Note the series of Tuscan columns, a nice tribute to Roman architecture, but what is their function? (illusion of only one at the top)

• Note the miniature prophet (Isaiah?). He left behind a ghost-like foot.

• Oil on panel 7’1” x 4’4”

Self-portrait: 1524 – oil on panel 9 5/8” diameter (not shown)

(xx) Bronzino: Allegory of Venus – 1550 Oil on wood, 4’9” x 3’9”

• An excursion into mythological metaphor. Pictures often contain hidden meanings. In allegorical paintings, figures and events are not to be taken at face value: they stand for something else.

• Renaissance painters, in particular, used characters from classical mythology to personify concepts (love or greed, for example), and set up paintings in which the narrative illustrates a wider moral or philosophical point.

• Trying to unravel the meaning continues to be part of the pleasure of looking at such paintings.

There are enough figures here to fill a large-scale mural, but here they are intertwined and crowded into a cramped, claustrophobic space.

Who will explain the symbolism here? (before going to next slide)

(xx) Bronzino – Allegory – details

The muscular, Michelangelesque arm of Time aided by Truth at the top is drawing a curtain to expose the scene below. This arm, coupled with Venus’s legs below and the standing figures of Cupid and Folly, frames the picture. Theater masks let us know this has been staged, or set up.

The innocent face of the figure identified as Fraud, or deceit, lurks in the right background. She holds a honeycomb in a left hand that is grafted onto her right arm. Further deception is seen in her lion’s legs and her coiling, scaly serpent’s tail. Folly is delighted with himself.

(xx) More Allegory details: mannerist style

(xx) Lavinia Fontana: a Woman Artist (1558 – 1614)

Self-Portrait, Portrait of a Lady as Astronomer, Portrait of a Noblewoman

Lavinia Fontana was born in Bologna, the daughter of a prominent painter who was her teacher. Continuing the family business was typical at the time.

Early in her career, she was most famous for painting upper-class residents of her native Bologna. . . . She later created paintings of male and female nudes and large scale religious paintings.

Fontana married Paolo Zappi (alternately spelled Paolo Fappi) in 1577. They had eleven children. Zappi took care of the household and assisted his wife, including painting minor elements of paintings like draperies. Fontana is widely considered to be the first professional woman artist, as she received numerous commissions for portraits and large-scale religious paintings and actually supported her family by her work.

(xx) Lavinia Fontana: Mannerist style, then back to Renaissance

One of her early paintings, Christ with the Symbols of the Passion, painted in 1576 shows her mannerist style. What composition technique, or element, stands out in this painting? (“V”s)

In her Holy Family with Saints, Lavinia Fontana presents the Madonna in an intimate domestic scene. Mary tenderly places the infant Christ in a cradle as Joseph stands behind her; opposite them, Saints Margaret and Francis bow their heads in worship. At first glance, the painting appears to celebrate both Christ’s divine birth and the human joy of motherhood, yet its iconographical elements speak also of Christ’s death. The men, standing in shadowy gloom . . . somberly contemplating the crucifix.

In order to succeed as a woman artist in a male-dominated art world, Fontana responded to the artistic decrees of the Counter-Reformation by turning away from the excesses of the Mannerist style in which she had been trained. Instead, she uses linear perspective and foreshortening to create a realistic sense of spatial recession that clearly defines the setting in this picture.

• In addition, she gives her figures the modest dress and pious decorum that are appropriate to the painting’s religious subject matter.

• By creating a balanced, nearly symmetrical composition with strong upward diagonals, she emphasizes the centrality of Christ to the devotional image.

Saint Margaret is recognizable by her attribute, the dragon that accompanies her. According to legend, she became the patron saint of women in childbirth after using her cross to deliver herself unharmed from the belly of the dragon that had swallowed her as a test of her Christian faith; she then asked women to call upon her for the safe delivery of their children.

(xx) Tintoretto, Last Supper, 1592 – 94. Oil on canvas, 12’ x 18’ 8” (back to mannerism style)

• Tintoretto is known for his more mystical, less realistic, inclination

What is the ‘moment’ in the Last Supper story that Tintoretto is depicting?

. . . the original miraculous moment of transubstantiation – what does that mean? Without getting into specific doctrines of different Christian sects, it essentially means the miraculous, or mysterious, changing of the substance of bread and wine during Communion into the body and blood of Jesus.

The drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian were the twin ideals of Tintoretto. His extreme contrasts of light and dark; his off-center, diagonal directions; his interplay of the natural and supernatural, earthly and unearthly light, human and divine figures; and his placement of principal figures on the edge of the action, from where he created lines that lead the eye in several different directions – all elements combine to make his art both dynamic and dramatic.

To throw light on this unfathomable mystery of faith, he bathes his canvas in a supernatural glow that seems to come partly from the figure of Christ and partly from the flickering flames of the oil lamp.

The smoke is then transformed into an angelic choir hovering to form a burst of light around the head of Christ.

The diagonals of the floor and table direct the eye to an indefinite point in the upper right – to a space beyond the picture, instead of to the head of Christ.

(xx) Tintoretto: Last Supper - Journey around the picture:

Our eyes are drawn back along the table and then returned to the foreground by the arc of people serving dinner on the right. The circle is completed by the woman kneeling in the center and the cat stealing food.

The woman and the angels above her head all incline toward Christ, who stands behind the table surrounded by radiant light. He is the link between daily life, shown in the lower half of the picture, and the realm of the spiritual, portrayed in the upper half.

(xx) El Greco – intro 1541 - 1614

Doménicos Theotocópoulos; … 1541-Toledo (Crete), Spain, 1614

El Greco is arguably the best-known Mannerist painter. Born on Crete (then a possession of Venice), he learned his craft in the Byzantine manner.

He spent time in Venice and Rome, where he met the work of Titian, Tintoretto, and Michelangelo; then he settled in Spain. The spirited Counter-Reformation was going on in his new home where he developed his mystical/religious themes.

El Greco also excelled as a portraitist.

El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers. He has been characterized by modern scholars as an artist so individual that he belongs to no conventional school.

He is best known for tortuously elongated figures - the elongated figures, seem intangible creatures, devoid of physical strength and an intense spirituality. . . . and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, . . a cold color palette gets startling impact with the red, blue and white in particular, of a rare intensity and sharpness. "I hold the imitation of color to be the greatest difficulty of art.” (El Greco)

The primacy of imagination and intuition about the subjective character of creation was a fundamental principle of El Greco's style. El Greco discarded classicist criteria such as measure and proportion. He believed that grace is the supreme quest of art, but the painter achieves grace only if he manages to solve the most complex problems with obvious ease. . . . thus, he fits in with the Mannerist style

Extra tidbit: In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals.

(xx) El Greco: The Disrobing of Christ

The Disrobing of Christ was commissioned for the High Alter of a Cathedral in Spain. By this date the disrobing was a rare subject in Western art. A figure dressed in black in the background points at Christ accusingly, while two others argue over who will have his garments. A man in green to Christ's left holds him firmly with a rope and is about to rip off his robe in preparation for his crucifixion.

The powerful effect of the painting especially depends upon his original and forceful use of color. Christ is clad in a bright red robe; it is on this red tunic that El Greco concentrated the full expressive force of his art.

At the lower right, a man in yellow bends over the cross and drills a hole to facilitate the insertion of a nail to be driven through Christ's feet. The radiant serene face of the Savior is juxtaposed to the coarse figures of the violence surrounding him; of the executioners, who are amassed around him creating an impression of disturbance with their movements, their gestures and lances.

In the left foreground, the three women contemplate the scene with distress. Their presence was objected to by the Cathedral authorities, since they are not mentioned as present at this point in the Gospels. It is suggested that Greco took this detail, with some others like the rope around Christ's wrists, from the account by Saint Bonaventure in his Meditations on the Passion of Jesus Christ.

The placement of the tormentors higher than the head of Christ also was cited by the commissioners of the Cathedral in the arbitration process over the price.

In designing the composition vertically and compactly in the foreground El Greco seems to have been motivated by the desire to show the oppression of Christ by his cruel tormentors. The figure of Christ, robust, tall and tranquil, dominates the center of the composition which is built vertically like a wall. El Greco chose a method of space elimination that is common to middle and late 16th-century Mannerists.

The Disrobing of Christ was a subject of a dispute between the painter and the representatives of the Cathedral regarding the price of the work. In addition to the objections already mentioned, he was also supposed to remove some of the other figures objected to, which he never did. Despite the complaints of the commissioners of the Cathedral it had a huge success.

(xx) El Greco: The Burial of Count Orgaz. The most admired work from Greco is The Burial of Count Orgaz. What was the local legend- the subject of this painting?

In 1312, a certain Don Gonzalo Ruíz, native of Toledo, and Señor of the town of Orgaz, died [received title of Count after death]. He was a pious man who, among other charitable acts, left moneys for the enlargement and adornment of the church of Santo Tomé (El Greco's parish church). At his burial, Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine intervened to lay him to rest.

The painting remains in the chapel - the actual scene of the event - for which it was ordered. Already in 1588, people flocked to see the painting. This immediate popular reception depended, however, on the 'life-like portrayal of the notable men of Toledo of the time'. It was the custom for the eminent and noble men of the town to assist at the burial of the high-born, and it was stipulated in the contract that the scene should be represented in this way.

Unfortunately, there is no record of the identity of the sitters. Andrés Núñez, the parish priest, and a friend of El Greco's, who was responsible for the commission, is certainly the figure on the extreme right. The artist himself can be recognized - third from the left, immediately above the head of Saint Stephen. The artist's son acts as the young page. The signature of the artist appears on the handkerchief in the pocket of the young boy, with the date '1578' - the year of [the boy’s] birth, and certainly not the date of the painting. The boy points to the body of the deceased, thus bringing together birth and death.

The painting is very clearly divided into two zones, the heavenly above and the terrestrial below, but there is little feeling of duality. The upper and lower zones are brought together compositionally (e.g., by the standing figures, by their varied participation in the earthly and heavenly event, by the torches, cross, . . .).

The point of equilibrium is the outstretched hand poised in the void between the two Saints, whence the mortal body descends, and the Soul, in the medieval form of a transparent and naked child, is taken up by the angel to be received in Heaven. The supernatural appearance of the Saints is enhanced by the splendor of color and light of their gold vestments. The powerful cumulative emotion expressed by the group of participants is suffused and sustained through the composition by the variety and vitality of the color and of light.

This is the first completely personal work by the artist. There are no longer any references to Roman or Venetian formulas or motifs. He has succeeded in eliminating any description of space. There is no ground, no horizon, no sky and no perspective. Accordingly, there is no conflict, and a convincing expression of a supernatural space is achieved. This is the beginning of his real development, and the process of dematerialization and spiritualization continues.

(xx) El Greco & Picasso

Portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos – 1600-1605 by el Greco

Portrait of a Painter after El Greco – 1950 – by Picasso – his version of Portrait of Jorge

(xx) Palladian Villa (drawing and description bullets)

(xx) Andrea Palladio: Villa Rotunda, Vicenza – ca. 1567-1570

(xx) Palladio and Renaissance influence:

Villa Rotunda (Palladio)

Thomas Jefferson : Monticello home

Jefferson : Virginia U. Rotunda

U.S. Capitol

(xx) Mannerism: Dynamic Space & Time

n Quickening of pace; increased sense of action

n Restless, teeming with action

n Buildings: open loggias, galleries, recessed entrances & windows

n Spacious interiors: freedom of movement

n Lively contrasts of structural elements & decorations

n church apse windows : eye continues into deep space

n Dynamic scupture: Dramatic, writhing, elongated figures

n Renaissance unity broken in Venetian paintings

n Dynamic rather than stable space: opposites

n Music: “broken” choirs, opposing sounds

n Growth in size of building façades and paintings

n Human figure – large and ample

(xx) Mannerism: Artists (review)

n Scupture

n Michelangelo – Victory

n Benvenuto Cellini - Perseus

n Painters

n Michelangelo - Last Judgment

n Veronese – The Wedding at Cana

n Parmagianino – Madonna with the Long Neck

n Bronzino – Allegory with Venus and Cupid

n Lavinia Fontana – Portrait of a Noblewoman
Christ with the Symbols of the Passion

n Tintoretto – The Last Supper

n El Greco - The Burial of Count Orgaz

n Paladian architecture – Villa Rotunda

We will next turn to the Renaissance period in the Northern countries. – end -