High Renaissance and Mannerism

Spot the differences…

Look at these images and see if you can identify three stylistic

differences.

Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper. c.1495-1498. Oil and tempera on plaster. Santa Maria delle Grazie, Refectory, Milan, Italy.

Jacopo Tintoretto 1518 – 1594 The Last Supper oil on canvas (365 × 568 cm) —San Giorgo Maggiore, Venice

Consider the differences again and discusss the following formal

qualities:

• narrative• composition

• light

Now look at these two following works and see if you can identify

the stylistic differences.

Raphael, The Entombment, panel, 184

× 176 cm, 1507

Pontormo, The Entombment, panel, 313

× 192 cm, c. 1525

Again, reconsider the differences and from what you know from before,

also think about these other formal qualities:

• space• proportions• colour

Mannerism

• Italian for ‘the style’, it was a break from the classical style that came to distinguish High Renaissance painting.• Mannerism started in Florence and Rome around the 1520s and spread through the rest of Italy.• Two High Renaissance masters were precursors to and provided inspiration for the Mannerist style. Who do you think they are? Why?

RaphaelThe Transfiguration

1516-1520oil on wood

405 x 278 cm

Transfiguration• The work was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici in 1516 for the cathedral of San Giusto in Narbonne, France.

• The composition is divided in two distinct parts, relating to successive episodes of the Gospel of Matthew.

● The upper part of the painting shows the Transfiguration with Christ floating in front of softly illuminated clouds, between the prophets Moses and Elijah.

● In the lower part, Raphael depicts the Apostles attempting, unsuccessfully, to free the possessed boy of his demonic possession.

In what ways is this painting characteristically High Renaissance?

What Mannerist qualities does it have?

Transfiguration (top detail)

Transfiguration (bottom detail)

Transfiguration• It was the last work produced by Raphael, though it was not completed by his hand --> completed by his pupil Giulio Romano.

• Analysis of the painting is that that painting depicts a dichotomy:

● The redemptive power of Christ, as symbolised by the purity and symmetry of the top half of the painting.

● Contrasted with the flaws of Man, as symbolised by the dark, chaotic scenes in the bottom half of the painting.

• Emphasis on an extraordinary event rather than the ordinary.

• Creation of drama and artificiality, the realities of form, space, and colour are superceded by the creation of effect.

• Underlying geometry no longer exists and there is an emphasis on the creation of the actual painting rather than on the rendering of the subject.

Let’s have a look at a fairly classical theme, one that Raphael was best known for…the Madonna and Child theme.

Look at the following two images and note describe three differences between them.

Raphael. Colonna Madonna. c.1508. Oil on panel. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

PARMIGIANINO Madonna with Long Neck Oil on

Wood, 1537-1540, 135.0cm x 219.0cm

Galleria degli Uffizi , Florence Italy

Expand on your descriptions to include the following stylistic features. The first one has been done for you.

• Content - In the Raphael painting both the Madonna and Child seem to be involved in a natural and idealised mother and child story. There is a very normal interaction between the two subjects. In the Parmigianino there interaction between mother and child is very unnatural, it is almost abnormal with very little control between the subjects.

• Narrative • Space• Composition• Proportions• Figure• Colour• Light