Download - Renaissance & Mannerism
Lecture 15: RenaissanceLecture 15: Renaissance Mannerism
“Authority and Subversion” ‐‐ Giulio Romano / Giacomo da Vignola
1520 15801520– 1580
What is Mannerism?
For most of the Cinquecento, most of the rest of the 16th century, (mainly after 1520) a wrestling between further codifying the classical “norms” established by Bramante and his school (Raphael, Peruzzi etc.) in the early part of the century: i.e. robust, Roman, monumental, sculptural space and wall surfaces, like the Tempietto, like Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi p– and breaking the rules, varying the forms, willfully, or playfully…
Idea of both “authority” and “subversion” per Colin Rowe, Leon Satkowski, “Italian Architecture of the 16th Century”
Definition (Per James Curl, “Classical Architecture”)
M i A l f 16th hi h i d bMannerism: A style of 16th century architecture characterized by the use of classical motifs outside their normal context, or in a willful or illogical manner. It was the precursor of the Baroque, and is generally associated with Italian architecture from the time of Michelangelo until the beginning of the 17th centuryMichelangelo until the beginning of the 17 century.(Curl, glossary, p199)
A further look at this – two different takes:
Peter Murray: The Architecture of the Renaissance (1963)
Mannerism, as a term was invented some sixty years ago when it became clear that the purely classical style ofwhen it became clear that the purely classical style of Bramante, Raphael and Peruzzi at the beginnings of their careers was not the same in intention as the style practiced by Giulio Romano or even by Raphael and Peruzzi in their later years. Similar tendencies can be found in painting and in sculpture, perhaps most notably in Raphael’s late work such as the Transfiguration (in the Vatican) In all three artssuch as the Transfiguration (in the Vatican). In all three arts this new, restless, style was due to a number of factors of which the most important were the personality of Michelangelo and the fact that the classical style of Bramante and the early Raphael must have seemed to younger men a dead end. It must have appeared to them h hi ld b d h li hi h ld bthat nothing could be done on those lines which would be better than the work already in existence, so rather than try to rival Bramante’s Tempietto or Raphael’s School of Athens the sensible thing to do seemed to be to try to find a different, more exciting style. In architecture the mere imitation of classical prototypes was now quite simple and it
Raphael Transfiguration of Christ (c15161520), Vatican:Last masterpiece, finished by Giulio Romano his assistant combines p yp q p
seemed worth experimenting with the classical vocabulary in order to find new combinations that might yield results visually as satisfactory as anything that had come down from antiquity.(Murray pp145‐146)
Romano, his assistant – combines “formal polish” and “elegance” w/ “an atmosphere of tension” – “in its feeling and composition it inaugurated the mannerist movement” (Encyclopedia ( y pBritannica)
Frederick Hartt: Th Hi f I li R i A (1987)The History of Italian Renaissance Art (1987)
• Whereas the content of High Renaissance art is often ideal, Mannerist art often chooses subjects that are abnormal or unnatural, and the strange and unexpected aspect of a subject may be emphasized Mannerist interpretationsunexpected aspect of a subject may be emphasized. Mannerist interpretations sometimes stress uncontrolled emotion or withdrawal. In High Renaissance art the narrative will usually be direct, compact and comprehensible; in Mannerist art it is often elaborate, involved, and obtuse. (applies mainly to painting)
Whil i Hi h R i k ill b d h i d• While space in High Renaissance work will be measured, harmonious and ideal, Mannerist space can be disjointed, spasmodic, and/or limited to the foreground plane.
• High Renaissance compositions are harmonious and integrated, they are oftenHigh Renaissance compositions are harmonious and integrated, they are often centralized, and they may assume a pyramidal or conical form (e.g. “ideal” centralized churches – Santa Maria della Consolazione); Mannerist compositions may be conflicting, and forms often seek the frame or violate it
Whil Hi h R i ti ti d id li d M i t• While High Renaissance proportions are normative and idealized, Mannerist proportions can be uncannonical, usually attenuated.
(see Hartt p589)
But, significantly – the concept of “Mannerism” also very much a part of current contemporary dialogue in modern architecture theory especiallycurrent, contemporary dialogue in modern architecture theory, especially over the past 40 + years:
• Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966) –Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966) representing the “Grays” – “Postmodernists”
• Colin Rowe: Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal (two articles published in Perspecta in 1964, 1971) – representing the “Whites” – the “Neo‐Modernists”, th N Y k Fi Ri h d M i P t Ei t lthe New York Five – Richard Meier, Peter Eisenman et al.
“The desire for a complex architecture , with its tt d t t di ti i t l ti tattendant contradictions, is not only a reaction to the banality or pettiness of our current architecture. It is an attitude common in the Mannerist periods: the sixteenth century in Italy or the Hellenistic period in Classical art…today this attitude is again relevant to the medium of g farchitecture and the program in architecture.”
(Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture p19)
C i / Mi h l l ’ P t PiCover image w/ Michelangelo’s Porta Pia
• Redundant elements: more than one element does the work necessary: flat arch + d d l l ddecorated lintel + pediment above – to span opening,
• Exaggerated elements: keystone larger than it needs to be pediment much largerto be, pediment much larger than arch, which is flat and turned down to form rusticated sides of the portal jambs, and cut off at the top…
Gilchrist photo
• Juxtaposed elements:scrolls, garlands, pilasters, rusticated edges, broken rounded pediment inside of triangular pediment – all i d l d t
Michelangelo’s Porta Pia, Rome, 1568
Scott Gmixed up, overlapped on top
of each other….(see Complexity and Contradiction p62)
Per Venturi: “Contradiction Juxtaposed” ‐‐ from “Complexity and Contradiction”
and Colin Rowe …
we’ll look at the concept of 16th century Mannerism through his eyes as well
Bauhaus (Walter Gropius) –corner detail:
Hoesli p34
Hoesli p45
Villa Stein (Le Corbusier) – front façade:“Phenomenally Transparent” very little actual glasscorner detail:
“Literally Transparent” – all glass, can see right through:
Analogous to deep, perspectival space
Phenomenally Transparent – very little actual glass, but various layers, planes, stacked close together in shallow space…(the next example should make this more apparent)
Analogous to mannerist space?perspectival space Analogous to mannerist space?
per this kind of analysis:
Richard Meier’s Barcelona Museum has many of the layering qualities that a façade like Michelangelo’s San Lorenzo has – both could be considered phenomenally transparent, both could be considered “Mannerist” works?
32551
Meier p3
San Lorenzo Façade Project:Ambiguous, overlapping layers
Hartt p5
Barcelona Museum facade:1. Mannerist as a “late” version of earlier High
w/ in shallow space of frame, grid
Corbusian Modernism – like 16th Century Mannerism is to Bramante…
2. Mannerist in these sense of various ambiguous overlapping layers in shallow space – vs. clear, unambiguous opening like the Bauhausunambiguous opening, like the Bauhaus…
R h l S h l f Ath (1510 1511)
Hartt p524
Hartt p572
R Fi ti D t Raphael School of Athens (15101511)Rosso Fiorentino Descent from the Cross (1521)
Per Rowe – painting comparison should help make these ideas more vivid, clear…• Deep perspectival space of “Athens” vs. shallow, close up space of “Descent”p p p p p p• Swirling, agitated motion of “Descent” vs. calm, serenity, clarity of “Athens”• This very much also seen (as Rowe points out) in the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo, that we looked at last time…M i t l / id ill l k f l• Mannerist – panel / grid…will look for examples…
Will look mainly at (5) “Case Studies” – examples of 16th century Mannerism:
• Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome – Baldassare Peruzzi, 1534• Palazzo Spada, Rome, architect unclear but based on sketch for a similar building by Raphael, mid‐16th century• Palazzo Te Mantua Giulio Romano 1527 1534• Palazzo Te, Mantua – Giulio Romano, 1527‐1534• Villa Giulia, Rome – Giacomo da Vignola, 1550‐1555• Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola – also by Vignola, 1159
A few other examples to emphasize or clarify some points – but these (5) buildings each inA few other examples to emphasize, or clarify some points – but these (5) buildings, each in their own ways exemplify the ideas we’ve just talked about:
In particular – two key architects:
• Giuilio Romano (Giuilio) ‐‐ b1499‐1546 – represents “subversion”• Giacomo da Vignola (Vignola) ‐‐ b1507 – 1573 – represents “authority”
Murray p164
cott Gilchrist photo
MSc
Plan – showing interconnection of two adjacent buildings on a complicated site for the Massimi brothers – Palazzo Massimo on rightbrothers Palazzo Massimo, on right• Architect of the Villa Farnesina• Massimo as the “contextual” Palazzo
P l M i ll C l R B ld P i 1534Palazzo Massimo alle Colone, Rome, Baldassare Peruzzi, 1534
photo
Scott Gilchrist
• Mannerist? In Robert Venturi’s sense of “complexity and contradiction” – building takes “ideal” form (compare to the Villa Farnesina) and molds itself to the site.• Colonnade marks ground floor entry level rather typical emphasis on Piano Nobile• No horizontal string courses to mark main floor divisions or classical orders applied to upper levels – actual reading of floor divisions unclear from façade…• Unusual horizontally oriented windows w/ ornamental frames (strapwork)
el p153
el p153
From
me
From
me
Courtyard view – showing the clear tripartite division of the floors –b d h f f d
Colonnade at entry vestibule
obscured on the front façade
cott Gilchrest photo
Sc
Mannerist in the most straightforward way?
• Surface decoration emphasized over all else – over just clearly marking the logic of the façade organization (i.e. just marking the floor levels w/ i lik h P l M di i) di l i h f
ott Gilchrest
h
string courses, like the Palazzo Medici) or over displaying the mastery of the classical orders, (e.g. Bramante’s Palazzo Caprini)• Still – behind it all, looks like the wellproportioned language of the High Renaissance…
Sco
Palazzo Spada, Rome – mid 16th century
hrist
Scott Gilch
Palazzo Spada elevation
rist
120
Scott Gilchr
From
mel p
Based on design for Raphael’s Palazzo Detail – at surface decoration – very light, refined…g f p
Branconio – no longer existingrefined…
Hartt p595
Palazzo Te – North elevation
If the Palazzo Massimo represents (in Venturi’s terms) – “Contradiction Adapted” Palazzo Te might be “Contradiction Juxtaposed” – a stronger set of contradictions…• Symmetry broken everywhere
Furnari p167
Palazzo Te, Mantua, Giulio Romano
• Symmetry broken everywhere• Bay rhythm completely uneven…• “heavy handed”
Palazzo Te – plan(15271534)
Gilchrist photo
Scott G
Inside the courtyard – looking back to entry on north side (left) and way to garden (right)
Beyond the deliberate
Furnari p167
y“games,” architectural jokes –useful as a precedent in the use of rustication
Courtyard Elevation: extreme contradiction, misalignment etc.
hoto
Scott Gilchrist p
Details at east courtyard wall how many things can you find “wrong” in this picture?Details at east courtyard wall how many things can you find wrong in this picture?
• Uneven bay rhythm• Oversized keystone, window arch jammed against bent up frame • Two different sized columns share same base• Most famously – dropped triglyph in entablature
oto
Scott Gilchrist pho
Hartt p597
Interior “Room of Giants” – skills as an illusionistic painter – showing the collapse of his own building on top of the viewer in the room!
Detail – wall texture at rustication…
Murray p88
Finally – the more “standard” vestibule: space opens towards the garden
From
mel p133
Giulio Romano’s own house – in Mantua (1540’s):• Variations on the theme of rustication• A deliberate play off of the logic of Bramante’s classicism at Palazzo Caprini: 1) string course bent up to form pediment over entry (vs. Bramante’s strict separation of p f p y ( p fupper/lower levels) 2) upper window pediments “buried” in niches – inverse of Bramante
From
mel p128
From
mel p128
Palazzo Maccarani (152223) court – building no longer exists
Palazzo Maccarani exterior
Vill L
Giuilo Romano’s other direction?Abstraction of classical orders Mannerist
From
mel p127
Villa Lante model –actual building different.
Abstraction of classical orders – Mannerist “grid”, “frame” that Colin Rowe speaks about:This sort of approach is seen more clearly and in a more refined way – in the work of Giacomo da Vi l
ffVignola
ignola plate 1
ignola plate 32
ignola plate 3
ViViVi
The Orders – per Vignola Vignola’s cornice “invention” – Vignola – on frontispiece
• Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (b15071573) – published “Regula delli Cinque Ordini d’Architectura” – “The Cannon of the Five orders of Architecture” (1562)• First fully well illustrated treatise – measured drawings of the orders and their uses (Alberti’s books had few illustrations, Serlio, other major treatise writer, but was not a sophisticated architect)• Authority – Vignola’s refinement – foundation for French classicism of the 17th, 18th
t i d b d ( P ll di ' i t E li h l t A l A i lt )centuries and beyond (vs. Palladio's impact on English, later AngloAmerican culture)
From
mel p185
Scott Gilchrest
ll G l l F dVilla Giulia – aerial view Façade engraving
• Villa for Pope Julius III• Axial composition – elements of surprise: exterior massing doesn’t reveal “scooped‐out” semi‐circular court
Scott Gilchrest
doesn t reveal scooped out semi circular court• Once inside ‐‐ progression thru site not clear at a glance• Uses rustication (per Giuilio), but in a refined / restrained way• Layering builds up careful emphasis towards center
Plan of residenceVilla Giulia, Vignola (and others), Rome, 15501555
Rowe on Vignola:An important aspect of
l ’ hVignola’s architecture is his orchestration of a flat surface with an equally flat apparatus of pilasters and strips so p pthat even when he employs elements of robustness and depth, these have the quality of stretching through astretching through a sort of highly stretched membrane . In other words, their behavior is eruptive. And it may be
t Gilchrist photo
said, with some plausibility, that if his contemporary Palladio was (and remains) the great analyst of the
Scott
Villa Giulia – main facade
great analyst of the plan, Vignola was equally the great protagonist of the elevation.(Stankowski p203)
ott Gilchrist photos
Sco
Window detail Rustication at entry
christ
Scott Gilc
Facade compositionDetail at niche
Scott Gilchrest photo
Grom
ort p111
S G
Oblique view at lower level Window study – rustication and frame– plays off of, envelopes frame itself: Mannerist detail
Inside the semicircular colonnade “frames” and “thinstrips” the semicircle
ott Gilchrest images
Villa Giulia – sequence of spaces thru the site: Sc
osite:
View of the space – now and as designed originally w/ decorative surfaces in panelsView of the space now and as designed originally w/ decorative surfaces in panels
ott Gilchrest
Sco
Into the loggia, the Nymphaeum….and down…
photos
Scott Gilchrest
Hidden stairs – down to the grotto below g
mel p187
y p228
From
m
Murray
Section through the pentagon shaped fortress –started by others:
Aerial View
• Vignola’s most “dramatic” work• Exemplifies (best?) his layered / gridded / flat built up surface compositional methodI l d l h f ll h i h
Lodz p114
Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, ItalyVignola from 1559
• Inner sleeve at courtyard – lower than full height of volume: key to its composition
Site PlanVignola – from 1559 Site Plan
Scott Gilchrest photo
S
Caprarola – View towards main entry
toScott Gilchrest pho
Upper level: “flat” pilasters on framed layer – an elevation of built up flat surfaces / thin profiles…
t Gilchrest photo
t Gilchrest photo
Scott
Scott
Rustication at entry – envelopes “frame” of Doric order – but w/ a great deal of finesse!
Similarly: “flat” layering system at lower levels: arch as “cutout” in lattice, grid pilasters layered on top
Hartt p502
Bramante – Palazzo Caprinip
As in the Villa Giulia, Vignola approaches Caprarola’s vertical surfaces with a Michelangelostyle sensibility and then
rest photo
g y yproceeds to articulate their surface and depth. The wall has become a topic for anatomical dissection…layers are gradually subtracted and cut away…
Scott Gilchr
Vignola – inner sleeve of courtyard: scheme a variation on Bramante?
g y y(Rowe – Stankowski p220)
variation on Bramante?
lchrest photo
lchrest photo
Scott Gil
Scott Gil
Detail views at wall surface at courtyard
rtt p689
Har
View of courtyard stair…And inside of vestibule (similar to Villa Giulia)
tt Gilchrest photo
Giulia)
Scot
Legacy of Vignola:
195
First:
From
mel p1
Façade by Ammanati – Palazzo Firenze, Rome (1572)
The sensibility of Michelangelo, simplified, made accessible, usable?
Scott Gilchrist
l p191
Ile Gesu : as built, per Giacomo della Porta…
From
mel
Second: The development of the Baroque façade – will return to this th ft t k
Ile Gesu : Vignola’s design…
theme after next week…
86 p45
ograph p138
Process 8
KPF Mono
Kohn Pedersen Fox Saint Paul Companies, (19871991)
Kohn Pedersen Fox – ABC Studios, New York (19841986)
third, and still currently:the continuing application of Vignolalike sensibility…
rocess 86 p63
rocess 86 p62
Pr
Kohn Pedersen Fox – 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC (198487)
…of all the Renaissance architects with whom a connection with KPF might be made, Vignola is the best parallel…Vignola is important for three reasons. First his flatness; he is
Pr
the least plastic and least robust of the sixteenthcentury architects…Second his utility; the ease of which his system was disseminated throughout Europe and later America. Third, and most important, the way he (like Giulio) began to abstract the literal forms of the classical vocabulary into more generic, decorative, nonspecific elements.(Thomas Schumacher: The Facades of KPF: Abstraction and the Limits of Figuration(Thomas Schumacher: The Facades of KPF: Abstraction and the Limits of Figuration,KPF Monograph 19861992)
Reading:
Required:
• Trachtenberg pp 309‐325 (Chapter Eight: The Renaissance), rest of chapter…
Lectures will ONLY focus on pp299 303 and 311319 outline and discussion on Fri should focus on these pages
Supplemental:Supplemental:
• Kostof pp412420 (Chapter 17 – section on Mannerism and Giulio Romano)• Kostof pp468483 (Chapter18 – section on Venice and Palladio)
Main issues:
• Mannerism – what is it? In what different ways can it be seen in the examples shown?examples shown? • Relating the concepts and examples discussed to the façade term‐project• Understanding the importance of Palladio’s work