The Mannerist Portrait

Welcome to Week 5 le studentesse.

Hope we are still enjoying the Mannerist vibe. Here's a little bit of extra viewing for those of us using the mannerist portrait as a focus, or evidence in our Achievement Standard - Investigate an Art Issue.

Remember to add this to your bibliography and any other groovey clips you find along the way. The more view points you watch/ read/ listen to, the better equipped you will be to argue your case.

Enjoy..............

Term 2, Week 4&5 2011

Buon giorno! Good morning my lovelies -

OK, OK, so the Bronzino, "Allegory with Venus and Cupid" wasn't what you wanted as this week's header. As you noticed, back by popular demand, more of Michelangelo, but this time featuring his vision of horror, The Last Judgement.

Last week we started looking at the stylistic developments in Mannerism, all that twisting movement and bright, ice cream colours.

I'm also hoping you've watched the Luther clips this weekend and have started to learn who's who during this era.

To start off this post we'll consider Pontormo's Entombment which is a fantastic example of Mannerist extremes.
While our focus shifts to the issues surrounding this period 1520-1600 we'll begin a four week quest to complete our final internal achievement standard -

3.5: 'Investigate an art issue' for another big 4 credits.

So, by 1523 Clement VII, ( the guy you wouldn't buy a used car from), becomes the second Medici Pope - following on from Leo X, the 'fat, lecherous pig' - Luther publishes a serious challenge to the Church: Stop the sale of indulgences and clean up your act, or else!

Needless to say, they didn't, so Europe spiraled into 120 years of war.......starting with the Sack of Rome and Reformation.

Following directly on the heels of Luther was the Catholic Church's answer :

the Counter Reformation and Council of Trent.

Don't worry your pretty little heads about too much of this - your job is to know how and why the developments of Mannerism impact on the C.S.I.
(context, style and iconography)of the art.

Meantime, have a clear idea about an issue, which for us is

a POINT of DISCUSSION, (see Mrs Weissing for a definition of issues!), relating to Mannerism that you will explore in your 3.5.

Artists in the frame this week:

Michelangelo: Medici Tombs and Last Judgement

Bronzino: Portraiture

Pontormo ( Bronzino's teacher) and Parmigianino

Ciao for now, see you in class and good luck with the research.

Term 2 Week 3, 2011 - weekend homework

Coming your way soon...The Protestant Reformation....featuring

Martin Luther, an idealist who stands up to the Catholic Church and the excesses of the High Renaissance.

In the last snippet of 'The Medici - Godfathers of The Renaissance' DVD, we saw a snapshot of the changes that were to rock the High Reniassance.

The mad monk Savonarola is only one of the personalities we will learn about in the new topic of Mannerism.

This weekend's homework is a little viewing in preparation for next week's new adventures - try and watch at least more than Part 1.

Enjoy you weekend and report back to me on Monday. See you then :-)

Term 2 Week 3, 2011

Well, with 'Examine a Theory' nearly behind us we can consolidate all other aspects of our High Renaissance learning by refocussing on portraiture and patronage.

As far as portraiture goes, our interests here lie only with Leonardo and Raphael - who both capture the character and personality of their models.
Remember the Early stuff- all stiff and sideways , profiles like big nose?
With the new interest in Humanism and Neo Platonism, Art reflected the general celebration in the importance of the individual.
In class we'll work through the key images, many of which we started to cover at the end of Term One - check back through the last few postings and also at Leonardo's amazing paintings.

Our top 4 portraiture works this week are:

The Doni Portraits, another double whammy - trendy dude, Agnolo and the not so lovely, Maddalena.

CSI detectives, which earlier works would you compare this pair to?

Coming in at Number Three - the gorgeous Donna Velata and all the gossip about Rahael's love life with Marhgerita Luti, the baker's daughter. See if you can spot her in Sistine Madonna and a host of other Madonna images too.

Next, at Number Two - the dapper Baldassare Castiglione, a one time mentor for Raphael and author of The Coutier.

And top of the pops this week, our particularly papal portraits:

Julius II ( aka warrior pope) and Leo X (the 'fat, lecherous pig' - nice).

Interestingly, Raphael painted lots about himself too. Not so much Leonardo, who only seems to have made one significant drawing.

In terms of defining your average High Renaissance patron, we have already been covering a great deal as we've been investigating the period.

Julius II is really our guy. Refresh your understanding about the special relationship between artist and commissioner here and be clear about the differences between civic and papal - we'll work on this in class.

Extra studious dudes ( yes, that's you), may also want to kick start your big brains with all the favourites for poor old, miserable Michelangelo, paying particular attention to his sculptural works - (scroll to the bottom for specific images). He's a top topic for patronage.

Enjoy the week and prepare yourself for the madness that is Mannerism, coming your way next week.