Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Statues of
Roman gods
reflect a direct
debt to
Classical art.
MANNERIST ART
Mannerist artists used “hot”
colours, elongated forms and
deliberately contorted poses,
often within complicated,
large-scale compositions.
The twisted pose and vivid
colours of Michelangelo's
Holy Family (see p81)
estab-
lished the key features of the
style. Few artists could match
the monumental scale of his
work, but Bronzino, Pontormo
and Rosso Fiorentino brought
new life to traditional biblical
subjects by their skilful and
dramatic composition.
The Martyrdom of
St Lawrence
(1569)
With Mannerist bravura,
Bronzino shows the human body
in numerous poses
(see p90)
.
Writhing figures
createa
sense of
dramatic tension.
Flesh and
musculature
are
painted in
subtle grada-
tions of light
and shade.
and everyday life became
legitimate subjects for art.
Rejecting the stylized
art of the medieval era,
Renaissance artists
studied anatomy in
order to portray the
human body more
realistically, and strove
to develop innovations
to please their patrons.
They learned how to
apply the mathematics of
linear perspective to
their art, to create the
illusion of spatial depth.
Painters set figures
against recognizable
landscapes or city
backgrounds, and
flattered their
patrons by including
them as onlookers or
protagonists of the scene.
The greatest Renaissance
artists also added another
dimension, that of
psychological realism. It
is evident in Donatello's
sculpture
La Maddale-
na
, which vividly
conveys the former
prostitute's grief and
penitence. Even when
painting traditional
subjects, they often
tried to express the
complexities of human
character and emotion.
The religious elements
of the Virgin and Child
theme gave way,
for example, to an
exploration of the
mother-child
relationship, as in the
Madonna and Child
(c.1455)
by Fra Filippo Lippi
(see p82)
.
Pallas,
symbolizing
wisdom, tames the
centaur, representing
brute animal impulse.
La Ma
dd
alena
(1438), by Donatello
Pallas and the Centaur
Botticelli's allegory (1485)
typifies the Renaissance
interest in pagan myth.
1400-82
Luca della Robbia
1401-28
Masaccio
1449-94
Ghirlandaio
1483-1520
Raphael
1486-1531
Andrea del Sarto
1511-92
Bartolomeo Ammannati
1452-1519
Leonardo
1406-69
Fra Filippo Lippi
1457-1504
Filippino Lippi
1524-1608
Giambologna
1410-92
Piero della Francesca
1400
1450
1500
1550
1397-1475
Paolo Uccello
1445-1510
Botticelli
1477-1549
Sodoma
1511-74
Giorgio Vasari
1435-88
Verrocchio
1503-72
Agnolo Bronzino
1396-1472
Michelozzo
1475-1564
Michelangelo
1421-97
Benozzo Gozzoli
1500-71
Benvenuto Cellini
c.1395-1455
Fra Angelico
1494-1556
Jacopo Pontormo
1495-1540
Rosso Fiorentino
Renaissance Artists
Mannerist Artists
