Watch the video here h$p://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/bronzinos- an- allegory- with- venus- and- cupid.html Mannerists loved allegories with lavish

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2 Watch the video here h$p://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/bronzinos- an- allegory- with- venus- and- cupid.html Mannerists loved allegories with lavish undertones, that served as warnings and moral teachings One Interpreta9on Mythological metaphor Many figures are crammed and intertwined into a small, claustrophobic space The arm of Time, aided by Truth in the upper lec, draws the curtain on the stage to reveal the characters Venus and cupid embrace in an uncomfortable and surprising embrace Folly move towards them as if to shower them with flower petals Behind them the old hag Envy clutches her hair in despair this may also be a figure of Syphilis The innocent looking girl is actually Fraud, who has a serpants body she holds a honeycomb, a symbol of pleasure, in one hand and in the other hand her tail, which has a sknger on it Theater masks, also represenkng deceit, below on the right cast the whole piece as theater or an amoral dream Could this be a moral pain9ng warning against the abuse of pleasure? Or a message that love, accompanied by envy and plagued by inconsistency, is follish and that lovers will discover its folly in 9me? WHILE NOT RELIGIOU SUBJECT MATTER THE MESSAGE IS A MORAL WARNING AGAINST PAGANISM 2

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5 Not Spanish, originally Greek (hence the name), Studied art in Italy Unlike most arksts who were influenced by the Renaissance masters, El Greco was deeply influence by ByzanKne mosaics and frescoes, which he studied from a young age Worked in TiKan s studio Also visited Rome and was influenced by Roman and FlorenKne Mannerism His art is a blending of Byzan9ne and Mannerist elements. It is characterized by an intense emo9onalism, which appealed to the piety of Spanish Catholicism COUNT ORGAZ Had dies 300 years earlier Was a benefactor to Santo Tome and was buried in the church by Saint Stephen and AugusKne, who miraculously descended from heaven to lower his body into his reskng place In the painkng El Greco carefully divided the terrestrial world from the celeskal world the heavens open above and shed light on the world below The terrestrial world in shown with realism while the celeskal world is full of elongated and undulakng figures, and swirling clouds bathed in cool light that has no source Scale and proporkon in the celeskal world is off li$le concern The richness of texkles and the sheen of the count s armor demonstrate the Influence of TiKan s studio upon El Greco s styles The black clad mourners behind the bo$om scene are all individual portraits including the arkst, his son, the priest who commissioned the work and King Phillip II The upward glances of some of the men, and the flight of an angel above link the 2 worlds The angle carries the soul of the count, as Mary and John intercede on his behalf in front of Christ PURPOSE: CONVEYING RELIGIOUS FERVOR, AND AROUSING IT IN OTHERS WITH THE USE OF EMOTION 5

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9 The ascending spiral that the 3 figures form exemplify Mannerist principles of form and composikon rather than rakonally interackng this elegantly composed crowd or grouping twists and turns together The Ktle refers to an early Roman legend of how Romans abducted wives from the neighboring Sabines However, the arkst did not intend to portray any specific subject He created this piece as a purely visual and technical explorakon of a spiral figural composikon much like Michelangelo treated the ignudo on the Sis9ne Chapel The Kght verkcal axis holds all the figures within the cyclone composikon as they swirl with emo9on and mo9on The work changes draskcally depending on what angle you view it from first group sculpture in the round since ankquity, Renaissance sculpture preferred one rakonal view Careful and invenkve use of negakve space creates the different views Makes reference to Laocoon and Michelangelo athlekcism 9

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11 Designed for the the Medici Library that connects to the church of San Lorenzo The veskbule is verkcal room that is taller than I is wide Here Michelangelo demonstrates an indifference to Renaissance and classical norms in proporkon, and in the use of classical elements He uses columns in pairs and sank them into the walls where the hold up nothing He places scroll corbels on the walls beneath columns, where they hang holding up nothing The pilasters on the windows taper downward instead of upwards The staircase that protrudes like a tongue from the mouth of the library doors is an ornate combinakon of shapes, defined by movement rather than math He has disposed willfully all that is classically rakonal and clear it foreshadows the dramakc movement of Baroque architecture 11