Art in Focus

Chapter 18: Art of Sixteenth-Century Europe

Lesson Summaries-English

          Instead of looking to classical examples, artists in Venice looked to their island city for inspiration. Later in the sixteenth century, artists in Florence and Rome rejected the Renaissance, creating a new style known as Mannerism. In northern Europe, some artists embraced the Renaissance style while others continued in the Gothic.

Lesson 1
The Art of Venice

          Surrounded by rippling canals, Venice is a city of constantly changing lights and reflections. Venetian artists in the sixteenth century were influenced by the city’s close contact with the East. They adopted the Byzantine use of color, light, and texture for their own paintings, combining this with the Renaissance concern for reality. One of the first Venetian masters, Giorgione da Castelfranco, used landscapes to set the mood in his paintings. Oil paint added a new richness to his scenes, which he bathed in a soft, golden light. The greatest Venetian artist was Titian. He used color and texture like Giorgione but made his figures full of life. This allowed him to create highly emotional scenes such as in his painting The Entombment. Titian also used light and shadow to create mystery and interest. He painted the ruler of Venice, Andrea Gritti, as a fierce leader. The visible brushstrokes in the portrait are part of his painterly technique, in which he created forms with patches of color rather than with hard, precise edges. Titian lived like a prince in his day, often painting the portraits of his wealthy patrons, and his fame has not lessened over the centuries.

Lesson 2
Mannerism

          After the passing of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, artists in Florence and Rome were faced with a world of unrest and uncertainty. The Protestant Reformation had begun in 1517, shattering the unity of the Christian Church. Then the French invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 1527. This caused artists to create a new style of art known as Mannerism, which was a deliberate revolt against the goals of the Renaissance. Mannerism reflected a sense of restlessness, with figures that looked more supernatural than natural. The artist Parmigianino was one of the first Mannerists in Rome. His painting The Madonna with the Long Neck presents a series of disturbing questions and has many possible interpretations. A Venetian artist who worked in Mannerism was Tintoretto. He continued to show the Venetian love of color and dramatic brushstrokes. At the same time he adopted the elongated figures, strange lighting, and odd perspectives of Mannerism. The last and most important Mannerist artist was El Greco, a Greek who settled in Spain. His dramatic works reflected the Church’s renewed emphasis on spirituality. In his complicated painting The Burial of Count Orgaz, El Greco used various techniques to guide the viewer through the multiple scenes. El Greco’s feverish art marked the end of Mannerism in southern Europe.

Lesson 3
The Art of Northern Europe

          During the sixteenth century northern European artists became more interested in the art of Italy. While some artists held on to the Late Gothic style, Italian Renaissance ideas eventually triumphed. One artist who preferred the Late Gothic style was the German Matthias Grünewald. He used Renaissance rules of perspective and modeling but painted the dreams and visions of Gothic art. His painting The Small Crucifixion rejects the calm balance of the Renaissance and shows the brutal details of Christ’s death. Another German artist, Albrecht Dürer, embraced the Renaissance. In his engraving Knight, Death, and the Devil, he used solid, round forms but represented the devilish creatures common in northern art.

          Hieronymus Bosch was a Flemish painter whose art reflected Mannerist concerns. His pictures served as stories on the subject of good and evil as well as symbolic messages. They can be frightening as well as humorous. Bosch influenced the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bruegel’s works can be seen as parables, stories that contain symbolic messages. They often illustrate particular proverbs in a realistic way.

          Another German artist, Hans Holbein the Younger, settled in England and became a court painter for King Henry VIII. His painting of Edward VI shows the boy both as a child and as a dignified royal heir. His portrait of Ann of Cleves made her look so beautiful that the king was convinced to marry her.