23: High Renaissance and Mannerism in Northern Europe and Spain
France High Renaissance and Mannerism Pierre Lescot (1510-1578) and Jean Goujon (c. 1510-1565) West wing of the Cour Carrée (Square Court) of the Louvre begun 1546 fig. 23-23
23-23Pierre Lescot, west wing of the Cour Carrée (Square Court; looking west) of the Louvre, Paris, France, begun 1546.Pierre Lescot's design for the Louvre palace reflects Italian Renaissance architectural models, but the decreasing height of the stories, large windows, and steep roof are Northern European features. Louvre, Paris Chambord, despite its Italian elements, is essentially a French building. During the reign of Francis's successor, Henry II (r. 1547-1559), however, translations of Italian architectural treatises appeared, and Italian architects themselves came to work in France. Moreover, the French turned to Italy for study and travel. These exchanges caused a more extensive revolution in style than had transpired earlier, although certain French elements derived from the Gothic tradition persisted. This incorporation of Italian architectural ideas characterizes the redesigned Louvre in Paris, originally a medieval palace and fortress (FIG. 20-6). Since Charles V's renovation of the Louvre in the mid-14th century, the castle had fallen into a state of disrepair. Francis I initiated the project to renovate the royal palace (see "Francis I") when he decided in 1528 to move his court to Paris from the Loire valley. It was not until 1546, however, that Francis commissionedPierreLescot(1510-1578) to build a new palace. Francis died the following year, but work continued under Henry II, who greatly enlarged the project, enabling Lescot to design a palace that has become synonymous with the classical style of 16th-century French architecture.Lescot and his associates were familiar with the architectural style of Bramante and his school. In the west wing of the Cour Car-rée (Square Court;FIG. 23-23) of the Louvre, each of the stories forms a complete order, and the cornices project enough to furnish a strong horizontal accent. The arcading on the ground story reflects the ancient Roman use of arches and produces more shadow than in the upper stories due to its recessed placement, thereby strengthening the design's visual base. On the second story, the pilasters rising from bases and the alternating curved and angular pediments have direct antecedents in several High Renaissance palaces—for example, the Palazzo Farnese (FIG. 22-26) in Rome. Yet the decreasing height of the stories, the scale of the windows (proportionately much larger than in Italian Renaissance buildings), and the steep roof are Northern European elements. Especially French are the tall central sections projecting from the wall on each side of the courtyard that feature double columns framing a niche. The richly articulated wall surfaces also include relief sculptures byJeanGoujon(ca. 1510-1565), who had previously collaborated with Lescot on the Fountain of the Innocents (FIG. 23-23A) in Paris.Other Northern European countries imitated this French classical manner—its double-columned pavilions, tall and wide windows, profuse statuary, and steep roofs—although with local variations. The modified classicism that the French embraced became the model for building projects north of the Alps through most of the 16th century.
France High Renaissance and Mannerism Anonymous Château de Chambord begun 1519 fig. 23-22
Among Francis's architectural commissions is the grandiose Château de Chambord ( FIG. 23-22 ). As a building type, the château developed from medieval fortified castles, but, reflecting more peaceful times, Renaissance châteaux served as country houses for royalty, who usually built them near forests for use as hunting lodges. Many, including Chambord, still featured defensive surrounding moats, however. Construction of the Château de Chambord began in 1519, but Francis I never saw its completion. Chambord's plan, originally drawn by a pupil of Giuliano da Sangallo ( FIGS. 22-26 and 22-27 ), includes a central square block with four corridors in the shape of a cross and a broad central staircase that gives access to groups of rooms—ancestors of the modern suite of rooms or apartments. At each of the four corners, a round tower punctuates the square plan. From the exterior, Chambord presents a carefully contrived horizontal accent on three levels, with continuous moldings separating its floors. Windows align precisely, one exactly over another. The Italian Renaissance palazzo served as the model for this matching of horizontal and vertical features, but above the third level, the structure's lines break chaotically into a jumble of high dormers (projecting gable-capped windows), chimneys, and turrets that are the heritage of French Gothic residential architecture—for example, the Louvre palace ( FIG. 20-6 ) in Paris.
France High Renaissance and Mannerism Jean Clouet (c. 1485-1541) Francis I c. 1525-1530 fig. 23-21
As the rulers of antiquity and other Renaissance monarchs had done, Francis commissioned portraits of himself to assert his authority. The finest is the portrait that Jean Clouet (ca. 1485-1541) painted about a decade after Francis became king. In Francis I ( FIG. 23-21 ), Clouet presented the French monarch as a worldly ruler magnificently bedecked in silks and brocades, wearing a gold chain with a medallion of the Order of Saint Michael, a French order founded by Louis XI in 1469. Francis appears suave and confident, with his hand resting on the pommel of a dagger. Despite the careful detail, the portrait also exhibits an elegantly formalized quality, the result of Clouet's suppression of modeling, which flattens features, seen particularly in Francis's neck. The disproportion between the king's small head and his broad body, swathed in heavy layers of fabric, adds to the formalized nature. Portraiture was, however, a relatively minor interest of Francis's. He was a great patron of sculpture and the decorative arts; a passionate collector of paintings, especially those of Italian masters; and a builder on a grand scale
Germany High Renaissance and Mannerism: Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543)The French Ambassadors 1533 fig. 23-12
Born in Augsburg, Germany, and trained by his father, Holbein produced many of his best portraits in England. The surfaces of Holbein's paintings are as lustrous as enamel, and the details are exact and exquisitely drawn, consistent with the tradition of 15th-century Flemish art. Yet he also incorporated Italian ideas about compositional design and sculpturesque form. Holbein is a leading example of the increasingly international outlook of 16th-century European artists. Holbein began his artistic career in Basel, where he became a master in the painter's guild in 1519 and met Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose portrait he painted several times. Because of the immediate threat of a religious civil war in Basel, Erasmus suggested that Holbein leave for England and gave him a recommendation to Thomas More, chancellor of England under Henry VIII. Holbein arrived in England in 1526 and quickly obtained important commissions—for example, to paint More's portrait. Holbein returned to Basel in 1528, but went back to England in 1532 and remained there until his death in 1543. In 1533, he painted one of his most ambitious works, a double portrait ( FIG. 23-12 ) of the French ambassadors to England, Jean de Dinteville (1504-1557) and Georges de Selve (1509-1542). A few years later (1536), Holbein became the King's Painter and produced numerous portraits of Henry VIII ( FIG. 23-12A ). The French Ambassadors exhibits Holbein's considerable talents—his strong sense of composition, gift for recording likenesses, marvelous sensitivity to color, and faultless technique. The two men, both ardent humanists, stand at opposite ends of a side table covered with an oriental rug and a collection of objects reflective of their worldliness and their interest in learning and the arts. These include mathematical and astronomical models and implements (compare FIG. 26-23 ), a lute with a broken string, compasses, a sun-dial, flutes, globes, and an open hymnbook with Luther's translation of Veni, Creator Spiritus and of the Ten Commandments.Of particular interest is the long gray shape that slashes diagonally across the picture plane and interrupts the stable, balanced, and serene composition. Here Holbein employed anamorphosis image distortion that requires a special device—such as a cylindrical mirror—or looking at the painting at an acute angle to recognize it. In this case, if the viewer stands off to the right, the distorted image becomes a skull. Although scholars disagree on the skull's precise meaning in this context, it certainly refers to death. Artists commonly incorporated skulls into paintings as reminders of mortality. Indeed, Holbein depicted a skull on the metal medallion on Jean de Dinteville's hat. Holbein may have intended the skulls, in conjunction with the crucifix that appears half hidden behind the curtain in the upper left corner, to encourage viewers to ponder death and resurrection. (A faint image of a skull appears on the polygonal block at the left in Dürer's Melencolia I; FIG. 23-5 .)Holbein's portrait of the two ambassadors may also allude to the growing tension between secular and religious authorities. Jean de Dinteville was a titled landowner, Georges de Selve a bishop. The inclusion of Luther's translations next to the lute with the broken string (a symbol of discord) may subtly refer to this religious strife. In any case, The French Ambassadors is a painting of supreme artistic achievement. Holbein rendered the still-life objects with the same meticulous care as he did the men themselves, the woven design of the deep emerald curtain behind them, and the Italian marble-inlay floor, drawn in perfect perspective.
Spain High Renaissance and Mannerism Anonymous Portal, Colegio de San Gregorio, Valladolid c. 1498 fig. 23-24
During the 15th century and well into the 16th, a Late Gothic style of architecture, the Plateresque, prevailed in Spain. Plateresque derives from the Spanish word platero ("silversmith"), and delicately executed ornamentation resembling metalwork is the defining characteristic of the Plateresque style. The Colegio de San Gregorio (Seminary of Saint Gregory; FIG. 23-24 ) in the Castilian city of Valladolid handsomely exemplifies the Plateresque manner, which Spanish expansion into the Western Hemisphere also brought to New Spain ( FIG. 23-24A ). Great carved retables ( FIGS. 20-3 , 20-21 , 20-22 , and 23-2 , bottom) appealed to church patrons and architects in Spain, and the portals of Plateresque facades often resemble elegantly carved retables set into an otherwise blank wall.The Plateresque entrance of San Gregorio is a lofty sculptured stone screen bearing no functional relation to the architecture behind it. On the entrance level, lacelike tracery reminiscent of Moorish design hems the flamboyant ogival arches. (Spanish hatred of the Moors did not discourage Spanish architects from adapting Moorish motifs—a habit that dates to the Visigothic age; see FIGS. 11-10 and 11-11 .) A great screen, paneled into sculptured compartments, rises above the tracery. In the center, the branches of a huge pomegranate tree (symbolizing Granada, the Moorish capital of Spain, which the Habsburgs captured in 1492) wreathe the coat of arms of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Cupids play among the tree branches, and, flanking the central panel, niches frame armed pages of the court, heraldic wild men symbolizing aggression, and armored soldiers, attesting to Spain's proud new militancy. In typical Plateresque and Late Gothic fashion, the activity of a thousand intertwined motifs unifies the whole design, which, in sum, creates an exquisitely carved panel greatly expanded in scale from the retables that inspired it.
Matthias Grunewald
Matthias Neithardt, known conventionally as Matthias Grünewald (ca. 1480-1528), worked for the archbishops of Mainz in several capacities, from court painter and decorator to architect, hydraulic engineer, and superintendent of works. Grünewald eventually moved to northern Germany, where he settled at Halle in Saxony.
Spain High Renaissance and Mannerism El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópolous) (c. 1547-1614) The Burial of Count Orgaz 1586 fig. 23-27
More typical of El Greco's work is Burial of Count Orgaz ( FIG. 23-27 ), painted in 1586 for the church of Santo Tomé (Saint Thomas) in Toledo. El Greco based the painting on the legend of the count of Orgaz, who had died some three centuries before and who had been a great benefactor of Santo Tomé. According to the legend, Saints Stephen and Augustine miraculously descended from Heaven to lower the count's body into its sepulcher in the church. In the painting, El Greco carefully distinguished the terrestrial and celestial spheres. The radiant Heaven above illuminates the earthly scene below. The painter represented the terrestrial realm with a firm realism, whereas he depicted the celestial, in his quite personal manner, with elongated undulating figures, fluttering draperies, and a visionary swirling cloud. Below, the two saints lovingly lower the count's armor-clad body, the armor and heavy draperies painted with all the rich sensuousness of the Venetian school. A solemn chorus of personages dressed in black fills the background. Among the witnesses to the miracle are El Greco himself (third from the left in the row of mourners, above Saint Stephen's head); his young son, Jorge Manuel (the young page at the lower left next to Saint Stephen); the robed, reading priest who commissioned the painting, Andrés Núñez (at the far right); and the Spanish king Philip II, whom El Greco placed among the blessed in the heavenly realm below . In the carefully individualized features of these figures, El Greco demonstrated that he was also a great portraitist.The upward glances of some of the figures below and the flight of an angel above link the painting's lower and upper spheres. The action of the angel, who carries the count's soul in his arms as Saint John and the Virgin (next to Saint Peter, who displays the keys to the kingdom of Heaven) intercede for Orgaz before the throne of Christ, reinforces this connection. El Greco's deliberate change in style to distinguish between the two levels of reality gives the viewer an opportunity to see the artist's early and late manners in the same work, one below the other. His relatively realistic presentation of the earthly sphere is still strongly rooted in Venetian art, but the abstractions and distortions that El Greco used to show the immaterial nature of the heavenly realm characterize his later style. His elongated figures existing in undefined spaces, bathed in a cool light of uncertain origin, explain El Greco's usual classification as a Mannerist, but his art is impossible to define using conventional labels. Although El Greco used Mannerist formal devices, his primary concerns were conveying emotion and religious fervor and arousing those feelings in viewers. The forcefulness of his paintings is the result of his unique, highly developed expressive style, which foreshadowed developments of the Baroque era in Spain and Italy, examined in the next chapter.
retable
Spanish for "altarpiece"
Germany High Renaissance and Mannerism: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) Fall of Man (Adam and Eve) 1504 fig. 23-4
The Fall of Man (1509), represents Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, before the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil entwined with the serpent. Engraving - Engravers use a hardened steel tool called a burin to cut the design into the surface, most traditionally a copper plate.
Spain High Renaissance and Mannerism Juan de Herrera (c. 1530-1597) and Juan Bautista de Toledo (d. 1567) El Escorial 1563-1584 fig. 23-25
Under Philip II, the Plateresque style gave way to an Italian-derived classicism that also characterized 16th-century French architecture ( FIG. 23-23 ). The Italian style is on display in the expansive complex called El Escorial ( FIG. 23-25 ), which Juan de Herrera (ca. 1530-1597) and Juan Bautista de Toledo (d. 1567), principally the former, constructed for Philip II. In his will, Charles V stipulated that a "dynastic pantheon" be built to house the remains of past and future monarchs of Spain. Philip II, obedient to his father's wishes, chose a site some 30 miles north-west of Madrid in rugged terrain with barren mountains. Here, he built El Escorial, which incorporated not only a royal mausoleum but also a church, a monastery, and a palace. Legend has it that the gridlike plan for the enormous complex, 625 feet wide and 520 feet deep, symbolized the gridiron on which Saint Lawrence, El Escorial's patron saint, suffered his martyrdom (see " Early Christian Saints ").The vast structure is in keeping with Philip's austere character, his passionate Catholicism, his proud reverence for his dynasty, and his stern determination to impose his will worldwide. He insisted that in designing El Escorial, the architects should focus on simplicity of form, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, and majesty without ostentation. The result is a classicism of Doric severity, ultimately derived from Italian architecture and with the grandeur of Saint Peter's ( FIGS. 24-3 and 24-4 ) implicit in the scheme, but without close parallel in European architecture.Only the three entrances, with the dominant central portal framed by superimposed orders and topped by a pediment in the Italian fashion, break the long sweep of the structure's severely plain walls. Massive square towers punctuate the four corners. The stress is on the central axis, echoed in the two flanking portals. The construction material for the entire complex (including the church)— granite, a difficult stone to work—conveys a feeling of starkness and gravity. The church's imposing facade and the austere geometry of the interior complex, with its blocky walls and ponderous arches, produce an effect of overwhelming strength and weight. The entire complex is a monument to the collaboration of a great king and remarkably understanding architects. El Escorial stands as the overpowering architectural expression of Spain's spirit in its heroic epoch and of the character of Philip II, the extraordinary ruler who directed it.
Germany High Renaissance and Mannerism: Matthias Grünewald (c. 1480-1528) Isenheim Altarpiece (closed) c. 1510-1515 fig. 23-2
a complex and fascinating polyptych reflecting Catholic beliefs and incorporating several references to Catholic doctrines, such as the lamb (symbol of the son of God), whose wound spurts blood into a chalice in Grünewald's depiction of Christ's crucifixion ( FIG. 23-2, top) on the exterior of the altarpiece. Gilded and it contains three saints important to the Antonine order; a bearded and enthroned St. Anthony flanked by standing figures of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. At the bottom is a carved Christ that stands at the center of seated apostles it shows the Virgin holding a child, Christ, and the temptations of St. Anthony Closed Panel - shows the horrific Crucifixion Function • to serve as the central object of devotion in an Isenheim hospital built by the Brothers of St. Anthony.○ Art for a monastic hospital Qualities and Style • Dark , limiting background• shallow space Context • The viewer would see Christ's suffering and contemplate His versus their own• The image of the crucified Christ is pitted with plague-type sores, showing patients that Jesus understood and shared their afflictions. Materials oil on wood Attribution • Matthias Grunewald• Flemish Renaissance• Circa 1500 CE
maulstick
a stick used by a painter to steady the hand while painting.
Germany High Renaissance and Mannerism: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) Law and Gospel c. 1530 fig. 23-7
a woodcut dated about a dozen years after Luther set the Reformation in motion with his Ninety-five Theses, Lucas Cranach the Elder gave visual expression to the doctrinal differences between Protestantism and Catholicism. Cranach contrasted Catholicism (based on Old Testament law, according to Luther) and Protestantism (based on the Gospel belief in God's grace) in two images separated by a centrally placed tree that has leafy branches only on the Protestant side. On the left half, Judgment Day has arrived, as represented by Christ's appearance at the top of the scene, hovering amid a cloud halo and accompanied by angels and saints. Christ raises his left hand in the traditional gesture of damnation, and, below, a skeleton drives off a terrified person to burn for eternity in Hell. This person tried to live a good and honorable life, but despite his efforts, he fell short. Moses stands to the side, holding the tablets of the law—the Ten Commandments, which Catholics follow in their attempt to attain salvation. In contrast to this Catholic reliance on good works and clean living, Protestant doctrine emphasized God's grace as the source of redemption. Accordingly, God showers the sinner in the right half of the print with grace, as streams of blood flow from the crucified Christ. At the far left are Adam and Eve, whose Original Sin necessitated Christ's sacrifice. In the lower right corner of the woodcut, Christ emerges from the tomb and promises salvation to all who believe in him.
Plateresque
from the Spanish word platero, silversmith. Spanish architectural style derived from Gothic, Italian Renaissance and Islamic examples characterized by intricate, delicate, detailed carving.
Adamite
one of a sect of visionaries, who, professing to imitate the state of Adam, discarded the use of dress in their assemblies. Bosch possibly practiced as an Adamite.
Germany High Renaissance and Mannerism: Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480-1538) Battle of Issus 1529 fig. 23-11
the duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV (r. 1508-1550), commissioned Albrecht Altdorfer (ca. 1480-1538) of Regensburg to paint the Battle of Issus ( FIG. 23-11 ) at the commencement of his military campaign against the invading Ottoman Turks. The panel depicts Alexander the Great's defeat of King Darius III of Persia in 333 bce near a town called Issus on the Pinarus River. Altdorfer announced the subject—which a Greek painter, probably Philoxenos of Eretria, had represented two millennia before ( FIG. 5-70 )—in the Latin inscription suspended in the sky. The parallels between the historical and contemporary conflicts were no doubt significant to the duke. Both involved Western societies engaged in battles against Eastern foes with different values—the Persians in antiquity and the Ottomans in 1528. Altdorfer reinforced this connection by attiring the figures in 16th-century armor (many of the "Persian" soldiers wear Turkish turbans) and depicting them battling in 16th-century military formations. Landscapes gained popularity in the 16th century in the wake of the Protestant Reformation's iconoclastic tendencies. Altdorfer was one of the first to draw and paint landscapes as subjects in their own right, and Battle of Issus reveals his interest in recording natural locales. The battle takes place in an almost cosmological setting. From a bird's-eye view, the clashing armies swarm in the foreground. In the distance, craggy mountain peaks rise next to still bodies of water. Amid swirling clouds, a blazing sun descends. Although the spectacular topography may appear invented, Altdorfer derived his depiction of the landscape from a 1493 map of the Mediterranean world in the Nuremberg Chronicle ( FIG. 20-23 ). Specifically, the viewer sees the terrain and sea from the mountains of Greece to the Nile Valley in Egypt. In addition, Altdorfer may have acquired his information about this battle from the German scholar Johannes Aventi-nus (1477-1534), whose account of Alexander's victory describes the bloody daylong battle. Appropriately, given Alexander's designation as the "sun god," the sun sets over the victorious Greeks on the right, while a small crescent moon (a symbol of ancient Persia) hovers in the upper left corner over the retreating enemy forces.
