Renaissance
1430-1620
The Late Renaissance
1520-1620
Reformation
1517-1550
Elizabethan
1545-1620
Chronology
Late Renaissance
The Late Renaissance or Mannerist Period: 1520-1620
During this period, the power struggles unleashed by the Reformation and the
conflicts between France and Spain for colonial dominance led to religious wars
and a general cultural and spiritual malaise in all of Europe. Today, art historians
use the term Mannerism to describe this period of political crisis, cynicism, and
loss of faith.
• saw the decline of Italian dominance and the spread of Renaissance ideas to
France, Spain, and England,
• is considered as an age of ambiguity, contradictions, and self-conscious personal
expression,
• is represented in the visual arts mainly through painting, in the later works of
Raphael and in the work of Francesco-Mazzola Parmigianino and Agnolo Bronzino.
The late architecture of Michelangelo also contains Mannerist elements.
Mannerist Period & Style
• The Age of Crisis, Loss of Faith and Political Cynicism.
• SHIFT from: unity, balance and logic
to: personal invention, self-conscious stylization and bizarre fantasy
• Bartering be damned – money (anything can be bought for a price)
• Chivalry be damned – cynicism and political realism
• Erasmus: “When did avarice reign more largely and less punished?”
• Machiavellian: political expediency is placed above morality
• the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the
policies of a ruler is described
• The “new” supernatural: witchcraft – leading to the Inquisition
• Mannerism as a movement emerged about the same time as the classical
Renaissance, but its adherents, mostly painters, rejected the idealized nature of
classicism and concerned themselves with beauty for its own sake, elegance,
and personal expression. Individualism.
Italian
Architecture
Villa Rotunda (1550)
In Venice by Palladio
Classical Renaissance
Temple Front
Bisymmetrical w/ 2:3 Proportions… insistent on the
use of exact mathematical formula.
Laurentian Library (1559)
In Florence by Michelangelo
Defiance of the conventional
use of the classical orders
Distortion of classical proportion
Overall horizontal except vestibule
Villa Barbaro (1528)
In Rome by Palladio
Painting by Veronese (1560)
Not stone – brick and stucco; Not marble – terra cotta
Trompe l'oeil frescoes
Italian Furniture
By J.B. Da Vignola (1565)
Farnese Table (grand center table): recalling the Roman grotesque tradition
French
Architecture
Louvre (1546-61)
In Paris by Lescot (mathematician)
Cour Carré – balanced symmetrical
• Corinthian engaged columns
• Round arches
• Triangular and round pediments
• Sculptural relief (French Gothic)
Gallery of François I at Fontainebleau (1539) by Francesco Primatticio
Chåteaux: elegant rural palaces
Geometric and realistic proportions
Strapwork: a type of ornamentation imitating pierced and interlaced straps or bands, usually
forming a geometric pattern.
School of Fontainebleau: the integration of the arts of
woodworking, stucco relief and fresco painting combined to
create a very complex but graceful interior design.
Sculpted figures are integrated into the moldings and
cornices. Their elongated proportions and small heads are a
characteristic of the Mannerist approach.
Putti : cherubic infant,
often shown winged.
Grotesques:
ornamentation
in which
natural forms
and monstrous
figures are
intertwined in
bizarre or
fanciful
combinations
French Furniture
16th century
Dresser: Caryatid supports
Bedroom of Anne of Austria at
Fontainebleau
English
Architecture
Wollaton (1580)
In Nottingham by Robert Smythson
Classical model of symmetry and balance
Gothic Influence
Wollaton (1580)
In Nottingham by Robert Smythson
Hammer beam ceiling: consists of a series of trusses, repeated at intervals, and its object is
to transmit the weight and thrust of the roof as low as possible in the supporting wall
Keep: the inner stronghold of the castle
Turret(s): a small tower at an angle of a building… frequently beginning some distance above
the ground
Little Moreton Hall (c. 1570)
Cheshire
Gable: the triangular upper part
of a wall between the sloping
ends of a pitched roof
Half Timbering: exposed timber framework …filled
with “Wattle and Daub”
Highly Irregular – Perpendicular Style
Oriel window: bay window
Hardwick Hall (1590-1597)
In Derbyshire by Robert Smythson
Mullion Window: Vertical /structural support for window.
Muntin: Sash or glazing (supporting) bar… holding the glass panes together.
Crenellations
^ Shakespeare's Birthplace
Stratford on Avon
> Anne Hathaway's cottage
English Furniture
16th century
Draw Table: oversized
bulbous leg
Marquetry: inlaid work of
variously colored woods or
other materials (mainly in
furniture)
Parquetry: mosaic work of wood used for floors,
wainscoting, etc
Teatro Olimpico (1584)
Vicenza, Italy by Palladio
Scaena frons
“Academic" theatre
oldest surviving Renaissance playhouse
Vitruvian proportions
Mannerist
Dress
By 1550, a return to complexity and ornate
decoration reflects the spiritual and moral
ambiguities of the Mannerist period.
The body is more distorted than it has ever been,
shaped and constrained by stiff, heavy fabrics and
corseting, and visually weighed down by overscaled patterns.
Eleanor of Toledo by
Agnolo Bronzino
(Italy 1550)
The breast is compressed to non-existence, and the arms made to seem too heavy
to lift.
This period of constraint, coming as it did after the conquest of Italy by foreign
powers, reflects the Mannerist styles of Spain and Elizabethan England.
Innovation in
Dress
Treadle-powered spinning wheel
Embroidery was applied to shirts and
chemises - full-length, sleeved linen
undergarments - in the form of delicate
black silk figures called blackwork.
Early forms of lace-making appeared in
Italy in the 15th century.
th
16
Century
Dress
Northern Europe and
England
The Men
Man by Hans Baldung (German, 1517)
Changes in the male silhouette outside of
Italy during the 16th century:
• from 1500 to 1520, the transition was
made from late Gothic to Renaissance
styles.
1500-1510: Gothic tendency toward
verticality and elongation of the body.
1510-1520: Trend toward German full-cut,
loose robe broadened the silhouette.
Henry the Devout of Saxony by Lucas
Cranach the Elder (English 1514)
Slashing and panes - strips of fabric
caught with ornamental clasps - allowed
the shirt to show through.
Doublet
Robe/Cloak
Breeches (new short trouser) replaced
full-length hose, which was reduced to
knee-length, and held in place with
garters.
The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the
Younger (English 1553)
• from 1520 to 1550, costume was
dominated by German fashion with its full
over-robe, emphasizing horizontal lines.
Persistence of this square silhouette
Jerkin is sleeveless and has a deep
v-shaped opening in the front of the
bodice.
Simarre: Robe
Duckbills
Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger
(English 1537)
Doublet (padded) and Skirt
The codpiece (a flap or cover for the crotch)
developed into a prominent feature.
This portrait illustrates the extravagant
ornament and the distortion of the body
through padding, slashing (to reveal a lining
or full undergarment beneath) , and stiffened
encasement so typical of the approach seen
in Mannerist art.
François I by Jean Coulet
(French 1516)
The Italian love of simple elegance is
more evident in the French style, with
its black and white color scheme and
simple bands of embroidered foliage.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (unknown)
(English c. 1570)
• from 1550 to 1600, shoulder width decreased,
and a new garment, the separate breech or trunk
hose, emerged. This period is dominated by
Spanish influences.
Philip II (Spanish, c. 1560)
Ruff: Separate
Collar
Trunk
(pumpkin)
Hose: padded
breeches
The codpiece, very prominent at midcentury, had disappeared by 1580.
Youth with Rose by Nicholas Hilliard
(English 1588)
Several forms of the ruff developed, made with
stiffened, figure-eight folds. These were
invariably of starched white linen.
Peascod Belly:
Padded belly
Shoulders were padded roll or a crescentshaped extension. Sleeves were also padded,
but followed the shape of the arm and narrowed
considerably by the end of the century.
Elizabethan Armor
This suit of armor was made for the Earl
of Cumberland and is at the
Metropolitan Museum. The cost was
enormous, this cost as much as one
year's salary for a nobleman. It is inlaid
with gold, a real demonstration of
magnificence.
Notice space for trunk (pumpkin) hose
Top shaped just like doublet
Armor
The expanding waistline of Henry VII…
A suit of armor worn by the king in his early
20s (left) is noticeably slimmer than one he
used in about 1540 (right)
The Women
Princess Elizabeth, Flemish School
(English 1546)
1530-1575: International Gothic styles
continued to be popular well into the first
decades of the 16th century.
Spanish farthingale: Cone-shaped hoop
skirt…. which consisted of a series of
hoops, graduated in size, sewn into a
petticoat (underskirt).
The bodice (fitted vest or wide, lace-up
girdle) was tightly stretched over the corset
(or stays) giving an inverted cone shape to
the upper body.
Overskirts were split at center-front, to
expose the underskirt.
Corset (usually whalebone): a close-fitting undergarment, often reinforced by
stays, worn to support and shape the waistline, hips, and breasts
< shaded areas show pockets with boning
Steel Corset
Mary Tudor by Antonio Moro
(English 1554)
Girdle: a belt, sash, or band that is worn
around the waist
Crescent-shaped "French hood“:
headdress
Jane Seymore by Hans Holbein
(English, 1536)
Gable Headdress:
resemblance in
shape to the
gable-end of a
Tudor house
The Ditchley Portrait (Elizabeth I) by
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
(English 1592)
1575-1600: Skirt shapes changed in the
last quarter of the century.
The open ruff surrounding the square
neckline stands high behind the head and
is supported by a wire frame.
Hanging Sleeve: Open Sleeve
Conch: wire-frame headdress
French farthingale: Wheel or Drumshaped hoop skirt.
Bum Roll: Padded Roll; a bolster-like roll
either stuffed or held out with reeds which,
being fastened around the hips
Stomacher: v-shaped panel of stiff
material worn over the chest and stomach
The human form is
artificially shaped
during the period
through the use of
padding and hoops.
Silhouettes are
unbalanced by the
exaggeration in
shoulder width and
lengthening of the
torso.
Fabrics are
excessively
embellished with
slashing, puffs,
quilting, inset stones
and embroidery.
Queen Elizabeth I (the Armada Portrait)
by George Gower
(English c. 1588)
Woven patterns are
outsized.
(Woman)
Cartwheel Farthingale:
Hoops worn at an angle
which visually elongated the
wearer's torso while
shortening their legs.
Open ruff
(Man)
Stiffened hat
Cape
Gaiter: a heavy cloth or
leather covering for the leg
extending from the instep to
the ankle or knee. (shown on
left leg only)
Pomander - perfume ball of mixed aromatic
substances… generally filled with spices and
crafted in the shape of orange segments.
Well-to-do Londoners held pomanders to their
noses to shield themselves from the stench of
the rotting garbage that littered the streets.
Discuss these 2 images in regard
to the ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
^ Michelangelo’s Pieta
(St. Peter’s in Rome - 1498)
> Michelangelo’s Pieta
“The Deposition”
(Florence Cathedral – 1550)
Discuss these 2
images in regard to
the ELEMENTS OF
DESIGN
^ Leonardo da Vinci “The
Last Supper” (1495-1497)
> JacopoTintoretto “The
Last Supper” (1592-1594)