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.
A reindeer sled, Arkhangelsk, Russia. Late nineteenth-century photochrom.
Villnöss, Funes, Italy
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