Renaissance and Mannerism
European painting in the 16th century, by Manfred Wundram. Excerpt from the book 'Masterpieces of Western Art'
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Within this development, the figure of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was of outstanding importance both in artistic and historical terms. Dürer initially remained indebted to the traditions of his teachers, using line as his primary means of expression, and his early work is correspondingly dominated by woodcuts and copper engravings. In 1496 and 1506/07, however, he made two trips to Italy that would decisively influence his art. Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) three centuries later, Dürer experienced in Italian art the holistic, organic approach to composition which lay at the opposite end of the spectrum to the art north of the Alps, where painting continued to be understood as the additive combination of individual elements. From the Venetians, and above all from Giovanni Bellini, he learned about modulating contours with colour. Finally, too, he recognized the necessity of a sound theoretical approach to the representation of objects which went beyond mere intuition. His Madonna of the Rose Garlands (Prague, Národní Galerie), Adoration of the Trinity (ill. p. 188) - counterpart to Raphael's Disputà in the Vatican Stanze - and his Four Apostles (ill. p. 187) are outstanding examples of the fusion of the German and Italian feeling for form.
German painting around 1500 spanned an extraordinary breadth. If Dürer started primarily from line, Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470/80-1528) focused on composition with colour. His Isenheim Altar (ill. p. 190), begun around 1512, represents German art's most important contribution to the history of colour. The extent to which Grünewald drew upon the new colour theories of Leonardo and the works of Giorgione is something that deserves closer investigation.
Colour modulation was also the starting-point for the painters of the so-called Danube School, and in particular the young Lucas Cranach (1472-1535), Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480-1538) and Wolf Huber (c. 1485-1553), at whose hands landscape painting assumed an importance previously unknown north of the Alps. Confronted with the atmospheric landscapes produced by the Danube School, one is tempted to speak of a first phase of "Romanticism" in German art.
Independent of direct contact with Italian art, meanwhile, a common tendency towards large, balanced form and towards the integration of the real and the ideal was also making itself felt in Europe, as evidenced in the mature works of the Netherlandish artist Gerard David (c. 1460-1523), for example. David's works do not open up new avenues for the future, however, but look back to Jan van Eyck in their understanding of the human figure as a powerfully modelled volume.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Within this development, the figure of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was of outstanding importance both in artistic and historical terms. Dürer initially remained indebted to the traditions of his teachers, using line as his primary means of expression, and his early work is correspondingly dominated by woodcuts and copper engravings. In 1496 and 1506/07, however, he made two trips to Italy that would decisively influence his art. Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) three centuries later, Dürer experienced in Italian art the holistic, organic approach to composition which lay at the opposite end of the spectrum to the art north of the Alps, where painting continued to be understood as the additive combination of individual elements. From the Venetians, and above all from Giovanni Bellini, he learned about modulating contours with colour. Finally, too, he recognized the necessity of a sound theoretical approach to the representation of objects which went beyond mere intuition. His Madonna of the Rose Garlands (Prague, Národní Galerie), Adoration of the Trinity (ill. p. 188) - counterpart to Raphael's Disputà in the Vatican Stanze - and his Four Apostles (ill. p. 187) are outstanding examples of the fusion of the German and Italian feeling for form.
German painting around 1500 spanned an extraordinary breadth. If Dürer started primarily from line, Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470/80-1528) focused on composition with colour. His Isenheim Altar (ill. p. 190), begun around 1512, represents German art's most important contribution to the history of colour. The extent to which Grünewald drew upon the new colour theories of Leonardo and the works of Giorgione is something that deserves closer investigation.
Colour modulation was also the starting-point for the painters of the so-called Danube School, and in particular the young Lucas Cranach (1472-1535), Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480-1538) and Wolf Huber (c. 1485-1553), at whose hands landscape painting assumed an importance previously unknown north of the Alps. Confronted with the atmospheric landscapes produced by the Danube School, one is tempted to speak of a first phase of "Romanticism" in German art.
Independent of direct contact with Italian art, meanwhile, a common tendency towards large, balanced form and towards the integration of the real and the ideal was also making itself felt in Europe, as evidenced in the mature works of the Netherlandish artist Gerard David (c. 1460-1523), for example. David's works do not open up new avenues for the future, however, but look back to Jan van Eyck in their understanding of the human figure as a powerfully modelled volume.
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