Author Question: Identify a late-Renaissance style in Italy and discuss the characteristics of this style considering ... (Read 86 times)

Mollykgkg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 529
Identify a late-Renaissance style in Italy and discuss the characteristics of this style considering the Allegory painting by Bronzino.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Consider Holbein's The Ambassadors. This painting highlights human achievement and institutions as personified by these men and the symbolic instruments on the shelves behind them. Identify the subjects and discuss the symbolism of the objects in this work. How does the distorted object in the foreground transform the painting's meaning?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



milbourne11

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 322
Answer to Question 1

Scholars date the end of the High Renaissance with the death of Raphael in 1520. One of the artistic trends that emerged is known as Mannerism, from the Italian maniera, meaning style or stylishness. Agnolo Bronzino's bizarre Allegory illustrates some of the fascinating and unsettling characteristics of Mannerism. In an allegory, figures and objects have symbolic meanings. But the allegory in Bronzino's painting is obscure and difficult for scholars to reconstruct. This fondness for elaborate or obscure subject matter is typical of Mannerist artists. Also typical is the forbidden erotic undercurrent. Bronzino employs mythological mother and son subjects, Venus and Cupid, but presents their interaction as suggestively erotic. The elongated figures and twisting S-shaped poses are part of the Mannerist repertoire, as is the illogical, shallow picture space filled with people. This painting is an extreme example of the highly artificial and self-conscious aspect of Mannerist art.

Answer to Question 2

Holbein's mastery of oil paint rendered detailed objects that are mainly symbolic. The two figures, both ambassadors, flank a table richly laden with objects symbolizing the four humanist sciences of music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The table cover, an imported Islamic rug, speaks of contacts with the wider world. A globe reminds us of the age of Renaissance exploration and discovery. A broken lute string and a hymnal page by Martin Luther symbolize the discord generated by Luther's accusations. The most intriguing element in the painting is the anamorphic foreground shape. Meant to be a visual puzzle, it represents a memento mori, a remembrance of mortality, and employs a skewed skull to suggest death cuts across life, taking us by surprise.



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
 

Did you know?

Certain topical medications such as clotrimazole and betamethasone are not approved for use in children younger than 12 years of age. They must be used very cautiously, as directed by a doctor, to treat any child. Children have a much greater response to topical steroid medications.

Did you know?

More than 34,000 trademarked medication names and more than 10,000 generic medication names are in use in the United States.

Did you know?

A strange skin disease referred to as Morgellons has occurred in the southern United States and in California. Symptoms include slowly healing sores, joint pain, persistent fatigue, and a sensation of things crawling through the skin. Another symptom is strange-looking, threadlike extrusions coming out of the skin.

Did you know?

Inotropic therapy does not have a role in the treatment of most heart failure patients. These drugs can make patients feel and function better but usually do not lengthen the predicted length of their lives.

Did you know?

Egg cells are about the size of a grain of sand. They are formed inside of a female's ovaries before she is even born.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library