Italian Renaissance with
a Touch of Mannerism:
the Sequel
Andrea Mantegna
Giovanni Bellini
Sofonista Anguissola
Anguissola’s use of natural poses
and expressions; her sympathetic,
personal presentation; and her
graceful treatment of the forms did
not escape the attention of her
famous contemporaries. She
captured ordinary life and put them
into portraits.
Sofonisba Anguissola created
much more relaxed portraiture
than Bronzino. Anguissola
used strong contours, muted
tonality, and smooth finishes.
She introduced an informal
intimacy of her own.
This is a portrait of her family
members. Against a neutral
ground, she placed her two
sisters and brother in an
affectionate pose meant not
for official display, but for
private showing. The sisters,
wearing matching striped
gowns, flank their brother,
who caresses a lap dog. The
older sister (left) summons the
dignity required for the
occasion, while the boy looks
quizzically at the portraitist
with an expression of naive
curiosity and the other girls
diverts her attention toward
something or someone to the
painter’s left.
This painting is Parmigianino’s best-known work.
He achieved the elegance that was the principal
aim of Mannerism. He smoothly combined the
influences of Correggio and Raphael in a picture
of exquisite grace and precious sweetness.
The Madonna’s small oval head, her long slender
neck, the unbelievable attention and delicacy of
her hands, and the sinuous, swaying elongation
of her frame are all marks of the aristocratic,
gorgeously artificial taste of a later phase of
Mannerism.
On the left stands a bevy of angelic creatures,
melting with emotions as soft and smooth as
their limbs. On the right the artist included a line
of columns without capitals- a setting for a figure
Parmigianino: Madonna with a scroll, whose distance from the foreground
is immeasurable and ambiguous.
with a long neck
Most Mannerist painters achieved
sophisticated elegance by portraiture.
The subject is a proud youth -- a man of
books and intellectual society rather then a
lowly laborer or a merchant. His cool
demeanor seems carefully affected, a
calculated attitude of nonchalance toward
the observing world.
It asserts the rank and station but not the
personality of the subject. The haughty
poise, the graceful long fingered hands, the
book, the furniture’s carved faces, and the
severe architecture all suggest the traits
and environment of the highbred patrician.
Bronzino created a muted background for
the subject’s sharply defined, asymmetrical
Mannerist silhouette that contradicts his
impassive pose.
Bronzino: Portrait of a Young Man
Benvenuto Cellini: Saltcellar of
King Francis I of France
Lavinia Fontana: Noli Me Tangere
Palladio: Villa Rotonda (Venice)
The Villa Rotonda is not the typical of
Palladio’s villa style. He did not construct
it for an aspiring gentleman farmer, but
for a retired monsignor who wanted a villa
for social events.
Palladio planned and designed Villa
Rotonda, located on a hill top, as a kind
of belvedere, without the usual wings of
secondary buildings.
It’s central plan with four identical facades
and projecting porchesis both sensible
and functional.
Floor plan of Villa Rotonda
MANNERIST
ARCHITECTURE:
Went against the grain of Renaissance Architecture by using Classical forms in
illogical ways
This is mostly due to the style being used only for secular purposes
Symmetrical but highly ornamental
Colossal order
“Blind Windows”
Bronzino: Allegory
with Venus & Cupid
Bronzino demonstrated the Mannerist’s
fondness for: learned and intricate allegories
that often had lascivious (exciting sexual
desires) undertones.
Cupid is depicted fondling his mother, Venus,
while Folly prepares to shower them with
rose petals. Time, who appears in the upper
right-hand corner, draws back the curtain to
reveal the playful incest in progress. Other
figures in the painting represent Envy and
Inconstancy (unfaithfulness by virtue of being
unreliable or treacherous).
The masks symbolize deceit. The picture
seems to suggest that love, accompanied by
envy and plagued by inconstancy is foolish
and that lovers will discover its folly in time.
But as in many Mannerist paintings the
meaning here is ambiguous and
interpretations of this painting may vary. The
contours are structural and the surfaces
smooth. Of special interest are the
extremities, (hands, feet, etc.) for the
Mannerists considered them carriers of grace
and the clever depiction of them evidence
artistic skill.