22.

2 16th Century Venetian Art and Architecture:

• Analyze the designs of Palladio; remember his importance to future architects such as
Thomas Jefferson
• Examine the architecture and theories of Palladio.
• Realize that his work was inspired by the writings of the ancient Roman architect
VITRUVIUS.
• Describe the Mannerist pictorial devices displayed in Venetian art.
• Examine the issues of drama, dynamism, and color in Venetian art and the contributions
of individual artists.
• Explore the art of patronage portraits and the role of women.

To the left:
*ANDREA PALLADIO, Villa
Rotonda (formerly Villa
Capra),
near Vicenza, Italy, ca. 1566–
1570.

To the right:
ANDREA PALLADIO, plan of
the Villa Rotonda (formerly
Villa Capra), near Vicenza,
Italy, ca. 1550–1570. (1) dome, (2) porch.

To the left:
ANDREA PALLADIO, aerial
view of San Giorgio
Maggiore, Venice, Italy,
begun 1566.

To the right:
ANDREA PALLADIO, interior of San Giorgio Maggiore ,Venice, Italy, begun 1566.

16th Century Venetian Painting:

• Realize that Venetian painters were among the earliest
to use oil painting in Italy
• Result of oil painting --- Venetian paintings are known
for their rich colors
• Notice that Venetian paintings are often sensuous
• Recall the work of Venetian masters

GIOVANNI BELLINI,
San Zaccaria Altarpiece,
1505. Oil on wood
transferred to canvas, 16’
5” x 7’ 9”. San Zaccaria,
Venice.
 GIOVANNI BELLINI and TITIAN, Feast of the
Gods, from the Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo
Ducale, Ferrara, Italy, 1529. Oil on canvas, 5’ 7”
x 6’ 2”. National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C. (Widener Collection).

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO (and/or TITIAN?),

Pastoral Symphony, ca. 1508–1510. Oil on
canvas, 3’ 7 1/4” x 4’ 6 1/4”. Louvre, Paris.

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO, The Tempest, ca. 1510. Oil on canvas, 2’ 8 1/4” x 2’ 4 3/4”. Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice.
To the left:
TITIAN, Assumption of the
Virgin, 1516–1518. Oil on
wood, 22’ 7 1/2” x 11’ 10”.
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,
Venice.

To the right:
TITIAN, Madonna of the Pesaro
Family, 1519–1526. Oil on
canvas, 15’ 11” x 8’ 10”.
Pesaro Chapel, Santa Maria dei
Frari,Venice
TITIAN, Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne, from the Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara, Italy,
1522–1523. Oil on canvas, 5’ 9” x 6’ 3”. National Gallery, London.

TITIAN, Venus
of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas, 3’ 11” x 5’ 5”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Later art
influenced by this art: Manet, Olympia, 1863

Mannerism:
• Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed
to naturalistic) qualities.
• Understand Mannerism contrast to the naturalism of the High Renaissance.
• Examine Mannerism as interested in expressive forms of art rather than classical forms.
• Explore the lives and works of key artists of the Mannerist style.
• Recognize the artistic elements of Mannerist painting, sculpture, and architecture.

Mannerist Painting:
• Recognize basic features of Mannerism
– Elongated figures
– Figura Serpentinata
– Less emphasis on balance, symmetry, and rational composition (values of High
Renaissance)
 – Unusual lighting effects
• Compare and contrast Mannerist painting with that of the High Renaissance
• The label “Mannerism” was used during the 16th century to comment on social behavior
and to convey a refined virtuoso quality or to signify a certain technique. The period is
dscribed in writings of the time as the “Modern Style”.

To the left:
JACOPO DA PONTORMO, Entombment of Christ, Capponi Chapel,
Santa Felicità, Florence, Italy, 1525–1528. Oil on wood, 10’ 3” x
6’ 4”.

To the right:
PARMIGIANINO, Madonna with the Long Neck, from the
Baiardi Chapel, Santa Maria dei Servi, Parma,Italy, 1534–
1540. Oil on wood, 7’ 1” x 4’ 4”. Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence.

BRONZINO, Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time, ca. 1546. Oil on wood, 5’ 1” x 4’ 8 1/4”. National
Gallery, London.
Mannerist Portraiture:

• Examine the portrait as an expressive form of

art.
• Explore the lives and works of key artists of
the Mannerist style.

BRONZINO, Portrait of a
Young Man, ca. 1530–1545. Oil on
wood, 3’ 1 1/2” x 2’ 5 1/2”.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York (H. O. Havemeyer Collection,
bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer,
1929).

To the
left:

TINTORETTO, Last Supper, 1594. Oil on canvas,

12’ x 18’ 8”. San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

El Greco (“The Greek”) (1542-1614)

(born Doménikos Theotokópoulos ):
• Was the last of the Mannerists, but
critics consider him to show influences
of the pre-Renaissance Byzantine era
 as well as the pre-Catholic Orthodox (Greek) Church . The elongated figures are the most
clear link to Mannerism.
• El Greco also excelled as a portraitist, able not only to record a sitter's features but also to
convey their character.
• Is claimed by both Greece and Spain to be “their” painter.
• El Greco was disdained by the immediate generations after his death because his work
was opposed in many respects to the principles of the early baroque style which came to
the fore near the beginning of the 17th century and soon supplanted the last surviving
traits of the 16th-century Mannerism.[2] El Greco was deemed incomprehensible and had
no important followers.
• He was not fully appreciated until the 20th century, and was an influence to the Surrealist
painter Dali..
• A significant innovation of El Greco's mature works is the interweaving between form and
space; a reciprocal relationship is developed between the two which completely unifies the
painting surface. This interweaving would re-emerge three centuries later in the works of
Cézanne and Picasso.

The Holy Trinity (1577–1579, 300 × 178 cm, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain) was part of a group of
works created for the church "Santo Domingo el Antiguo".
El Greco: Future Influence:

The Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608–1614, oil, 225 × 193 cm., New York, Metropolitan Museum) VS Picasso's Les
Demoiselles d' Avignon (1907, oil on canvas, 243.9 × 233.7 cm., New York, Museum of Modern Art) which appears to
have certain morphological and stylistic similarities with the other artists’ work.

PAOLO

VERONESE, Triumph of Venice, ca. 1585. Oil on canvas, 29’ 8” x 19’.

Ceiling of the Hall of the Grand Council, Doge’s Palace, Venice.
Mannerist Sculpture:
• Examine the expressive forms of sculpture.
• Recognize the artistic elements of Mannerist
sculpture.

To the right:
GIOVANNI DA BOLOGNA, Abduction of the Sabine Women, Loggia
dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy, 1579–1583. Marble,
13’ 5 1/2” high.

To the left:
GIACOMO DELLA PORTA, facade of Il Gesù, Rome, Italy, ca.
1575–1584.

Discussion Questions:

 Why do works of art from the High Renaissance continue to be understood as the most
famous art in the western world?
 What are the elements of Mannerist art and sculpture that are different from the art of the
High Renaissance?
 What plans and theories of the architect Palladio continue to be seen in architecture to this
day?