The Triumph of the City

 

The High Renaissance
 
&

Mannerism

 

(Renaissance  Art Map)








 

Tilman Riemenschneider

Pedro Machuca

Leone Leoni



See collections:


Mabuse


Lucas van Leyden


Hans Burgkmair



 

The Renaissance outside Italy

The two main political powers of Europe in the early 16th century were France, under King Francis I, and the Hapsburgs, under Emperor Charles V. Both recognized the potential of the Italian Renaissance to promote their royal and imperial images in suitable classical forms. With the arrival at the royal court in Fontainebleau of Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570), and Sebastiano Serlio, Mannerism was introduced into France where it was assimilated by the eclectic, naturalist tastes of the French world. Flemish artists were also much in contact with Rome and Italy from the early 16th century. Quentin Massys (c. 1466-1530) and Mabuse, also known as Jan Gossaert (c. 1478-1532), gradually introduced greater restraint into their painting, initially taking inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci.
Tapestries based on Raphael's cartoons were woven in Brussels, so strengthening the Renaissance feel in the work of artists such as van Orley, in terms of composition and classical taste, while Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-69) borrowed from Venetian pastoral paintings to create his pictures of Flemish country peasants. There is, however, no hint of Italian classicism in the work of the German artist Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516). At times realistic and at others fantastical, the mystical nature of his painting was later admired by the Spanish king Philip II. Engraving played an important role in these areas of northern Europe, both as a way of spreading figurative examples and as an independent art form. There were a number of important centres for engraving, such as Antwerp, and the discipline had its own prominent artists, including Lucas van Leyden (c.l494-1533). One of the most significant events in the life of this gifted painter and engraver was his meeting with Albrecht Durer, the leading figure of Renaissance art in central Europe. Durer's activities as engraver, painter, and theorist took a decisive turn after a trip to Venice in 1505. His religious works, such as the Trinity (1511) in Vienna, became increasingly imposing, with a more mature sense of colour.

There were important exchanges of ideas on portrait painting, including a new perception of realism and psychology. Durer approached landscape painting with a great scientific curiosity, matched only by that of Leonardo da Vinci, later discovering other talented landscape artists among his compatriots, such as Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538). The extent of the influence of Durer's engravings in Europe is clear from the number of elements that were borrowed from his series of The Passion and The Life of the Virgin, which were used again and again in many famous Renaissance works. Also part of this fertile exchange between North and South were two artists inspired by the Roman Renaissance: Hans Burgkmair and Hans Holbein (c.1498-1543), both from Augsburg, where Charles V had his main residence. Naturally, at Augsburg the emperor was keen to exploit as much classicism as he could to aid his imperial image, and the Italian artist Titian is known to have visited the city, providing further evidence of the mobility of Renaissance art. Elsewhere in Germany, the "expressionist" Mannerism of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) and the sculpture of the great Tilman Riemenschneider (c.1460-1531), whose earliest works were characterized by Gothic elements, were being developed. Members of the Nuremberg-based Vischer family were also fine sculptors, their large wooden altarpieces decorated with stories and emotions expressed with great communicative force. These works were part of the sacred art of the Alpine and Pre-Alpine areas, which used sculpture, painting, and small-scale architecture to portray a very solid reflection of human faith - at times incorporating the Italian phenomenon of Sacro Monte - as well as wooden polyptychs.
In Spain, the rule of Charles V, who succeeded his grandfather Ferdinand, had a profound effect on the country's art and architecture, particularly after the court was moved to Madrid. Between 1527 and 1568, the Italian-inspired Palace of Charles V in the Alhambra at Granada was built; the only surviving architectural work of Pedro Machuca. The large project of El Escorial for Philip II, designed and constructed in part by Juan Bautista de Toledo (died 1567), who was succeeded by Juan de Herrera (c.1530-97), followed some of the strictest classical designs in Europe. In the first half of the 16th century, Spain was dominated by Flemish-style architecture as well as a Spanish style of ornamentation known as Plateresque decoration. Comprised of a mixture of Moorish, Gothic, and Renaissance elements, it adorned portals, windows, courtyards, and vaults of castles, churches, and convents from Seville to Toledo - the ancient capital of Spain where El Greco settled in the last quarter of the century - and the university city of Salamanca. As Renaissance elements gradually came to dominate, the decorative style became simpler and more imposing. There were also changes in the painting styles. In the wake of predominantly Flemish influences, evident in the works of Pedro Berruguete in Avila and Toledo, the first signs of Renaissance influence appeared in the work of Yanez de la Almedina and Fernando de Llanos, who took the Florentine models of Fra Bartolomeo and Andrea del Sarto to Valencia, a major artistic centre, in the second decade of the century.
Although Charles V and Philip II were both great admirers of Titian, they never managed to persuade him to take up residence at their courts. One major part of the development of Renaissance sculpture in Spain was the influx of weapons and armour from Lombardy. The great historical scenes on shields and breastplates paid homage to ancient designs and interpreted them with skilled craftsmanship. Similarly, Spanish sculptural decoration was spurred by the Italian tradition for funerary monuments and the best examples were comparable to the contemporary plastic art of Lombardy and Florence. Leone Leoni (c. 1509-90) and his son Pompeo (1533-1608) from Milan became the principal sculptors at the Spanish court. The political and artistic ties between Lombardy and Spain were a determining factor in the development of European art in the course of the 16th century. One example of the dynamism these cultural exchanges provided can be seen in the work of Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-96), a painter and architect born in the Alpine foothills in Lombardy. Tibaldi trained in Rome, where he came under the influence of Michelangelo, and was called to Milan by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo to give architectural form to the edicts of the Council of Trent; he was then sent as a painter to the Escorial of Philip II. From the Venetian territories, meanwhile, came the fame and example of the great architects Andrea Palladio (1508-80) and Scamozzi (1552-1616), while Giovanni Battista Moroni (c.1525-1578) became renowned for his full-length portraiture.

 
See collections:

Mabuse

Lucas van Leyden

Hans Burgkmair