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The Triumph of the
City
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The High Renaissance
&
Mannerism
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(Renaissance
Art Map)
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Tilman Riemenschneider
Pedro Machuca
Leone
Leoni
See collections:
Mabuse
Lucas van Leyden
Hans Burgkmair
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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.
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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.
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Tilman Riemenschneider
(b Heiligenstadt, c. 1460; d
Wurzburg, 7 July 1531).
German sculptor. He was one of the most outstanding
representatives of the last generation of Gothic sculptors
in southern Germany, and one of the most fully documented
medieval sculptors.

Salome
1500
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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Assumption of the Virgin
1505
Herrgottskirche, Creglingen-am-Tauber
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Noli me tangere
1490
Limewood
Parish Church, Munnerstadt
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St John
1505
Unpainted wood, height: 56 cm
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich
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Mary Magdalen with two Angels
1490
Unpainted wood, height: 187 cm
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich
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Eve
1491
Wood
Marienkirche, Würzburg
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The Last Supper
1501
Limewood
Church of Sankt Jakob, Rothenburg
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Tomb of Rudolf von Scherenbergs (detail)
c. 1495
Stone
Dom, Wurzburg
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Assumption of the Virgin (detail)
1505-10
Limewood
Herrgottskirche, Creglingen-am-Tauber
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Pedro
Machuca
Spanish painter/architect (b. 1490/95, Toledo, d. 1550, Granada)
(b Toledo, c. 1490; d Granada, 4 Aug 1550). Spanish painter
and architect. The form of his signature (Petrus Machuca, Hispanus. Toletanus
...) on his earliest known work, the Virgin of Succour (1517; Madrid,
Prado), suggests he was active at an early age in Italy. On the basis of the
style of that work, a number of frescoes in the Vatican have been attributed to
him, including Isaiah Blessing Jacob. Other works from the same period
that have been attributed to him include a copy (Paris, Louvre) of the destroyed
Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci and two paintings of the
Virgin and Child (Rome, Gal. Borghese, and Turin, Gal. Sabauda), some
drawings and the original drawings for reproductive engravings by Marcantonio
Raimondi and Agostino Veneziano.
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Deposition
1520-23
Oil on panel, 141 x 128 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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Leone
Leoni
(b ?Menaggio, nr Como, c. 1509; d Milan, 22
July 1590).
He was probably born in Menaggio on Lake Como, though
his parents were from Arezzo, and throughout his life Leone referred
to himself as Aretine. It is probable that his formative years were
spent learning the trade of goldsmith, perhaps in Venice or Padua.
The classicism and idealism of this school formed the basis of his
style. Some time after 1533 he is recorded in Venice with his wife
and infant son Pompeo, living under the protection of Pietro Aretino,
to whom he was related. While in Venice, Leone worked as a goldsmith
and made medals and statuettes (none of which can be identified).
Leone’s skill and connections secured him a position at the mint in
Ferrara, although he was forced to abandon this when accused of
counterfeiting, the first of several misadventures that were to
plague his life. Through Pietro Aretino, Leone received an
introduction to the poet Pietro Bembo, and in 1537 he travelled to
Padua to prepare Bembo’s portrait medal (untraced).
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The Emperor Charles V
Restraining Fury
1550-53
Bronze, height 174 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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The Triumph of Ferrante Gonzaga
1564
Bronze
Piazza Roma, Guastalla
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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
c. 1547
Bronze medal, diameter 7,5 cm
Art Museum, Cincinnati
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Memorial Medal of Giorgio Vasari
1550s
Bronze
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence |
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See collections:
Mabuse
Lucas van Leyden
Hans Burgkmair
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