The World of European Culture

Chapter 7, Section 4

MannerismMannerism emerged in Italy sometime in the 1520s and 1530s as the Renaissance came to an end.

• It reflected this new environment in art by deliberately breaking down the High Renaissance principles of balance, harmony, and moderation.

• Rules of proportion were deliberately ignored as elongated figures were used to show suffering and heightened emotion.

• Mannerism reached its high point in the work of El Greco (“the Greek”) who used elongated and contorted figures to reflect the religious upheavals of the Reformation.

The baroque movement eventually replaced mannerism. Baroque artists tried to bring together the classical

ideals of Renaissance art with the spiritual feelings of the sixteenth-century religious revival.

This artistic style was noted for its use of dramatic effects to arouse the motions, and in large part, reflected the search for the power that was such a part of the seventeenth century.

Baroque churches and palaces were magnificently and richly detailed – Kings and princes wanted other kings and princes and their subjects to be in awe of their power.

The Baroque Period

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

was perhaps the greatest figure of this period.

He was known for completing Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Throne of Saint Peter, a highly decorated cover for the pope’s medieval wooden throne.

Baroque Art

The Throne of Saint Peter

Completed in 1666, Bernini’s “Throne of Saint Peter” took eleven years to finish.

How do you think Bernini wanted his work to impact the viewer?

In both England and Spain, writing for the

theater reached new heights between 1580 and 1640.

In the late sixteenth century leading into the seventeenth, a cultural flowering known as the Elizabethan Era took place.

Of all the forms of Elizabethan literature, none expressed the energy better than drama, and of all the dramatists, none is more famous than William Shakespeare.

The Golden Age of Literature

Shakespeare was a playwright, actor and shareholder in

the chief theater company of the time, Lord

Chamberlain’s Men.

He wrote around 40 plays and coined more than 1,700

words in the English language.

A “complete man of the theater,” Shakespeare has long

been viewed as a universal genius and master of the

English language.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Works

Romeo and Juliet

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Hamlet

Macbeth

Othello

Richard III

Shakespeare’s words…

Bedroom

Lonely

Love Sick

Sneaky

Gloomy

Secret

Jealous

Champion

Cater

Accused

Addiction

Green-eyed

Elbow

swagger

Lope de Vega – wrote over 1,700 plays – 500 of which still

survive. They were characterized as witty, charming, action-

packed and realistic.

Miguel de Cervantes – wrote Don Quixote, one of the crowning

achievements of the golden age of Spanish literature.

In Quixote, we meet Don Quixote from La Mancha who is so

involved in his ideals that he does not see the hard realities

around him. For example, he wages battle against a windmill

that he sees to be a four-legged beast.

Spanish Literature

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

Thomas Hobbes – wrote Leviathan which was

published in 1651.

Claimed that before society was organized,

human life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,

and short.”

Believed humans were guided not by reason

and moral ideals but by a ruthless struggle for

self preservation.

Thought that only a powerful government could

create a peaceful and orderly society.

Political Thought

John Locke – wrote Two Treatises of

Government.

Locke argued against the absolute rule of one person.

Believed that before society was organized, humans lived in a state of equality and freedom.

Said that humans had certain natural rights – life, liberty and property.

Believed government would protect the rights of the people and they would act reasonably toward the government. BUT, if the government broke the contract, the people might form a new government.

Political Thought