Disscussion 7: Readings on the "problem" of "Mannerism"

Mannerism or maniera was used as a derogatory term in the 1550's. The critics of the time saw it as the inevitable decline in art and critiqued it for its lack of faithfulness to nature. As the artists of mannerism tended to follow a sort of formula and critics complained that their work look to much alike, therefore they had a practiced or mannered way of creating their work.

Freedberg makes a distinction between early mannerism and high mannerism. Where, according to him, early mannerism is a way to express very personal concerns and emotions in a controlled, but rather experimental manner, and on the other hand high mannerism is more restricted and appears to remain within set boundaries, "The high Maniera image is, beyond its precedents, stylized and purposely artificial, yet it conveys its own kind of intense convincingness" (Freedberg 286).

Correggio's Assumption of the Virgin

Correggio. Assumption of the Virgin. Fresco.  Dome, Santa Maria Assunta, Parma Cathedral. 1526-32.

Discussion 6: Michelangelo's Last Judgement

Michelangelo's fresco Last Judgement, a project that took five years to complete, shows just how much controversy painting was able to generate.

The Last Judgement really shows how adept Michelangelo was a portraying the human figure in a variety of poses that would be copied by many artists that admired his work. Even so, this didn't stop the controversy. Perhaps it is in the way he portrays hell, with dammed souls being taken across the Styx river into Hades, or that Christ is beardless, possibly a reference to Apollo. One way or another the critics seemed to consider the painting to be in someway counter to the doctrine at the time. Hall talks the different contemporary critics of the time who complained about departures from scripture, how the nudity might distract the worshipers, or the manneristic movements of the individual figures. Hall argues that in many of these cases that critics were really just using Michelangelo as a "scapegoat" or "whipping boy" due to changing policies in the church and pressure from the protestants.

Steinberg had an interesting view on the content of the painting. First of all he argues that the Christ is not wrathful, but rather indifferent to the damming of the lost souls. He also points out the larger number of people in the heaven versus in the relatively small portion in hell. He thought that perhaps in disagreement with the doctrine of the time that perhaps Michelangelo didn't consider hell to be eternal or the punishment and torture to be so literal. Perhaps this also explains the extreme amount of controversy about the painting. Maybe the critics had noticed an almost heretical departure from the doctrine of eternal damnation of all, but a select few. I do agree that the Christ figure certainly does appear to have a more passive look to him rather than an angry one, I'm not sure about Stienberg's idea of Vasari and other biographers misconstruing the deeper meaning of the painting to keep it from being destroyed, although it's possible, in the end really it is impossible to know the intentions of Vasari or if his understanding of the the painting had just been influenced by prints that had been made.

Discussion 5: Rona Goffen, Titian's Venus of Urbino

     The Venus of Urbino was given to Duke Giodobaldo della Rovere in 1538.  The pose of the women is very similar to Giorgoine's Sleeping Venus, before that time no one had painted the Venus reclining while nude. Unlike Giorgoine's venus who leaves the viewer guessing as to why she is sleeping naked in the middle of a landscape; the context of Titian's Venus is much clearer. She's reclining at home in her bed while her servants in the background are either taking out or putting away her clothes. Those servants along with the dog (a symbol of fidelity) make it clear that she is married.

    Titian's intent for the painting is less clear as the author Goffen brings up. Goffen brings up the question as to whether or not Titian was a misogynist. The culture in which Titian lived no doubt colored his view of women as to what women should be as far as ideal beauty and behavior were concerned and how women should be sexually. While the nudity of the woman will inherently bring to mind sexuality, perhaps Titian was more interested in capturing the beauty of the female form rather than making an erotic image. He gives the women her own dignity as she looks directly at the viewer making her more than an impassive object for men to look at.

Project: Corregio's "The Second Coming of Christ"

Corregios painted the fresco "The Second Coming of Christ" aka the "Vision of Saint John" in the dome of the San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma.

 The work shows Correggio's mastery of perspective as he presents the Christ in a Worm's eye view descending toward the viewer from the clouds. In the clouds circling the Christ are the Apostles in nude heroic poses that  show the influence of Michelangelo on Correggio as they remind me of Michelangelo's nude figures in the Sistine Chapel. The Christ figure also shows the influence of another artist, Raphael, especially from the painting "Transfiguration".

This fresco can also be interpreted as vision that Saint John has of the Patmos. John can be seen tucked into the rim at the front of the dome, as a result the lay men in the nave are unable to see him. The only person who would have a clear view of John would have been the Priest standing at the Alter and the monks would only have a slanting view of him from the choir stalls. John's surprised expression and pose with his arm crossing over his body indicates an influence of Michelangelo, especially where Jonah looks up at God separating light from dark in the Sistine Chapel.

Sources: Correggio. David Eksenrdjian. Pg 95-103
Italian Frescos: High Renaissance and Mannerism. Julian Kliemann. Pg 61.

Discussion 4: Sir Anthony Blunt, Artistic Theory in Italy

Leonardo and Michelangelo had very different outlooks on art and how to approach making art.

Leonard's interests were many including: painting of animate and inanimate nature, mathematics, engineering, etc. To him painting was a science because he worked by directly observing nature and by applying mathematically accurate perspective. While he acknowledged that art required some imagination on the part of the artist, he preferred to imitate nature as closely as possible even if it meant painting the ugly parts of nature, "the introduction of ugliness even serves a definite purpose because the contrast of beautiful and ugly parts serves to show up each with greater intensity" (Blunt 31). Leonardo was also not strictly interested in painting the human figure he made drawings of landscapes, water, and animals as well.  

Michelangelo on the other hand was less concerned with nature outside of the human figure. Like Leonardo though, he studied human anatomy and understood perspective, unlike Leonardo, however, Michelangelo wasn't interested in making an exact copy of what he saw.  In his art he worked to protray the beauty of the human figure. He preferred to work with  stone in which he considered himself to be revealing the figure that was already there in the stone. For Michelangelo, his art was a way to express his emotions and Christian faith. For him the beauty of the figures in his work represented spiritual beauty.

Research Project: Correggio, An introduction

To start out my research project I'm reading the book by David Ekserdjian called Correggio. Correggio's real name was Antonio Allegri. Not much is know about this man's day to day life and even less of his personality. Even the date of his birth-1489-is only an approximate one. What is known about him is that he got married in Correggio to a girl Hieronima in 1521 and had several children. Before his second child was born the family had moved to Parma, which was where he did most of his larger scale projects. The majority of patrons he worked for are only know because, they were his patrons.