Venetian Art

Venice vs Florence

• Venice is bathed in mist/Florence is dry• Venice focused on light and sensuality

(colorito)/Florence focused on line and form (desegno)

• Venetian = first to adopt the use of oil• Venetian=poetry of nature and the senses/

Florence =more intellectual• Venetians developed poesia(painting to evoke

feelings similar to poetry)

Venetian artists

• Bellini-abandoned fresco and tempera for oil. • Giorgione-ambiguous meanings• Titian-

Bellini: San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505, oil on wood 16.5’X7’9”

Giorgione or Titian: Pastoral Symphony, 1508-1510, oil on canvas,

3’7”X4’6”, Louvre

Titian: Feast of the Gods, oil on canvas Ducale Palazzo, Ferrara, Italy, 1529

Titian: Bacchus and Ariadne,Ducal Palace, Ferrara, Italy, 1522-1523, oil

on canvas, 5’9”X6’3”

Titian: Madonna of the Pesaro Family, 1519-1526, 15’11”X8’10”Santa Maria dei Frari, Venice

Titian: Venus of Urbino,1538, oil on canvas, 3’11”X5’5”, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Titian: Isabella d’Este, 1534-1536, oil on canvas, 3’4”X1’2”

Mannerism

• Characterized by style, being stylish, cultured or elegant achieved through:

• Renaissance artists obscured artifice(not natural) with techniques

• assymmetrical• Unusual light sources• Figura serpentinata• Elongated figures

Pontormo: Entombment of Christ, Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence, 1525-1528, oil on wood,

10’3”X6’4”

• Played to familiar theme• Omitted the cross and tomb• Rotated on a vertical axis• Void middle to accentuate

loss• Anxious expressions• Distortions of figures• Contrasting pastels

Parmiagiano: Madonna with the Long Neck, Parma, Italy, 1534-1540, oil on wood, 7’1”X4’4”

• Elegance• Irrational depth

Bronzino: Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, 1546, oil on wood, 5’1”X4’8”

• Allegory with playful undertones

• Envy in the background• Masks=deceit• “Love accompanied by envy

and inconstancy is foolish and lovers discover folly in time”

• Head, feet and hands are the carriers of grace

Bronzino: Portrait of a Young Man, 1530-1545, oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

• Elegant, a man of intellect• Establishes rank not

personality• Muted background

accentuates the young man

Sofonisba Anguissola: Portrait of Sisters and Brother, 1555,Oil on panel

• Informal portraits• Group relaxed• 1559 became the court

painter for Philip II of Spain

Tintoretto: Last Supper, 1594, 12’X8’, oil on canvas, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Veronese: Christ in the House of Levi (Last Supper)1573, San Giovanni, Venice, oil on canvas,

18’3”X42’

Correggio: Assumption of the Virgin, fresco, Parma Cathedral, 1520-1524