Northern Italy in the Age of
Titian
During the first two decades of the 16th century, Milan and other
northern Italian city-states were subject to severe dynastic strife.
Having reconquered Milan from the Sforza's in 1515. the French king
Francis I ruled the duchy until 1521, when he lost it to his great
rival, the Hapsburg emperor Charles V, During this time, the
Milanese art scene was dominated by
Bramantino and the young
Bernardino Luini (1480/85-1532).
Bramantino's painting and
architecture synthesized classicism into a sense of intimacy and
pathos, while
Luini combined the example of
Leonardo with new
ideas picked tip from his direct contact with
Raphael's work. As a
result, Luini is the most "Roman" of Lombard Renaissance
artists, as can be seen from his frescos of the sanctuary of Saronno.
In Venice,
Titian succeeded
Giorgione following his early
death in 1510, and it is thought that he completed a number of the
former's unfinished works. Exploiting colour to the full.
Titian
created powerful compositions, skilfully distributing figures
according to colour contrasts in the skin and clothes, as seen in
Sacred and Profane Love (c. 1515)-One of his first public
commissions, the Assumption of the Virgin for the church of
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, established his reputation as a
colourist. In this, the traditional design of an altarpiece was
superseded by a vast and dramatic arrangement of figures rendered in
rich colours and bathed in light. Contact between Venice and Rome
was kept alive by
Sebastiano del Piombo, one of
Michelangelo's most skilful collaborators.
Sebastiano was one of
the main exponents of a style that united Venetian colourism with
the sculptural character of Roman painting, and was called to Rome
by Agostino Chigi to participate in the decoration of the Villa
Farnesina. The work of another Venetian painter.
Lorenzo Lotto
(c.1480-1556), reveals links between Lombardy and the Marches,
where he painted, and northern cultures. As a young man,
Lotto
had had contact with
Raphael and the master's painting of the
Stanza della Segnatura. An almost theatrical style illuminated the
work of Lotto, as can be seen in the scenes in the Oratory of Suardi
and in the altarpiece of the church of San Bernardino. Across
northern Italy, there-was a move towards a clearer and more emotive
representation of Catholicism, creating a bastion of Catholic
iconography against the onslaught of Lutheranism. One of the most
interesting examples is the site of Sacro Monte at Varallo, where
architecture, sculpture, and painting were all combined to re-create
the holy places of Jerusalem in a series of chapels on the hill.
Greatly influenced by Franciscan culture, which encouraged total
immersion in Catholic ideology, the leading artist was
Gaudenzio
Ferrari (c.14781-1546), who used a highly theatrical form of
representation to depict the episodes from the life of Christ. In
both frescos and sculptures, his crowded scenes had great expressive
impact. A similar example can be found in the decoration of Cremona
Cathedral, where artists of different extractions worked between
1515 and 1520. As a result, there are a number of different styles,
varying from the restrained, late 15th-century compositions of
Boccaccio Boccaccino, through important contributions by Altobello
Melone and Gerolamo Romanino (c.1484-1560), to the almost barbaric
and anticlassical drama of Pordenone (1483/4-1539). Pordedone's
work was remarkable for the immediacy of his figures, recalling
those of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. In Parma, the
originality of Renaissance painting owes much to the merging of
Lombard and Venetian styles. The youthful work of
Correggio
(c. 1489-1534) was significant, but after 1518, when he moved to
Parma and absorbed other influences (Raphael's Sistine
Madonna, c.1512-15, was in nearby Piacenza) he developed an
ingenious personal style. In the dome of San Giovanni Evangelista at
Parma and the abbess' room in the convent of San Paolo (1518), the
artistes illusionistic compositions soften the narrative.
