St Sebastian

Towards the end of his life the artist was disappointed by the ideas of Renaissance time – that is why dark background. The artist finished this painting with his fingerprints.

Mannerism

16^th century number of Italian artists started a new tendency, that got the name mannerism. For the first time this term was used Giorgio Vasari – artist, writer, historian, he wrote biographies of famous artists of Italian renaissance etc. His definition – “bella manera” – the word “mannerism” derived. The artists called themselves the followers of Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. The artists distorted forms and proportions of human body, they used to elongate lines and forms, rather flat representation.

The Virgin and the Child with Angels Giovanni Battista Rosso (Rosso Fiorentino).

Rosso Fiorentino was one of the first of the Florentine Mannerists, whose work was characterized by a departure from the principles of the classic style of the High Renaissance and a desire to express the impermanent and the disharmonious. Yet in formal artistic device, such as the resolution of the composition and the plastic expression of form, the Mannerists retained many links with the Renaissance.

In this picture our attention is immediately caught by the lack of any emotional link between the figures: even Mary does not look at Christ as He presses to her knees. Christ here is not a baby, as dictated by tradition, but a toddler of around five years old. The location is also indeterminate: Mary floats on a throne composed of the figures of angels, and she is lit by fantastical blue rays which are replaced towards the bottom by a sinister red light. The painting leaves an impression of duality both in lighting and the treatment of the figures. The bodies of some angels are treated with tangibility typical of Michelangelo, while the others are ghostly transparent in their incorporeity.One of the founders – Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540) – “Madonna and child” (1517). He was very much influenced by Michelangelo. He was invited by French royalty to the court of French king Francis I – he became the court artist, worked as a designer in Фонтенбло, was more popular in France than in Italy. Madonna sitting on the throne, behind – an unknown source of light (it used to be blew, eventually it turned green). Jesus Christ is not an infant child, he is standing near his mother, he is about 4 years old. All of the characters have similar smiles, the angels look very much like Jesus.

Pontormo (1494-1557). He was inspired by Michelangelo. Madonna and child with St Josepf and St John the Baptist. Used the same principles and Fiorentino – early mannerism. In the museum of Uffitsi there is a preparatory sketch – only Madonna and the child. St John is shown as teenager. Goldfinch – symbol of resurrection of Christ. And they used to keep finch as a toy for children. The Virgin and the Child with St Joseph and John the Baptist

Pontormo, Jacopo Carucci (Carrucci).

Oil on canvas. 120x98.5 cm

Italy. Between 1521 and 1527

Source of Entry: via the State Museum Fund from the collection of Countess E. I. Mordvinova, Petrograd. 1923

Pontormo was a master of early Florentine Mannerism, a style which moved away from the principles of the High Renaissance with its striving for harmony. This painting, dating from the high period of Pontormo's work, is full of contradictions. The Madonna's face and the body of the Child are modelled to create a sense of volume, but the drapery looks flat, for the artist used very intense, complementary colours, red and green. Mary looks cold and distant, but her eyes seem to be filled with tears. Her image contrasts with the coquettish movementsand smile of the Christ Child as he plays with the goldfinch.

There is a preliminary drawing for the picture in the Uffizi in Florence.

In 50 years the pupil of Pontormo – Jovanni Batisto Nal’dini (1537-1591) – “Bathsheba at the bath” (1570). (Вирсавия в купальне) – late mannerism (decay). Georgeo Vazaryi influenced him. King David on the balcony. David succeed king Saul. Once he saw Bathsheba in the bath and fell in love with her, she was the wife of the military commander Uraya. She got pregnant while her husband was out. David wanted to hid the child – he invited Uraya to Bathsheba as if it was his child, but Uraya didn’t come to his wife and guarded the doors of David’s palace for whole night. To get rid of Uraya, David sent him to death and married Bathsheba. God punished their – their first baby died. Second child was famous king Solomo.

“Love scene” by Julio Romano. He was a pupil of Raphael. The artist used a lot of symbolic details – a cat, seating near the bed, symbolized vice and evil, dog, that symbolizes married life, is outside the room. Who is this old women? Is she the mistress of a bordel? Did she came to ware, that husband has come, a lot of keys. Sleepers are shown apart – it shows that married life is unhappy. Blue color – a mistake of restorers.