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For more on the why and how of the Sculpture Synopsis, see the first post in this series. The series is also available as a playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Characteristic examples

Dates

• High Renaissance begins ca. 1490 in Italy, with the works of Leonardo and Raphael in painting, and Michelangelo in sculpture and painting. It ends in the 1520s, with the death of Raphael in 1520 and the sack of Rome in 1527 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Mannerism lasts from the 1510s to the 1590s.

Location

The major artists of the High Renaissance and Mannerism work in Florence and Rome. By 1600, Renaissance ideas and art have spread to northern Europe, which is in religious turmoil, as the map below shows.

Dominant ideas

• Humanism (see Dominant Ideas in last week’s post) spreads, diversifies, and branches into new fields. Its original emphasis – using the proper method to deal with perceived reality, and individual learning as a means to virtuous action – leads humanists to tackle thorny issues such as Christianity vs. Classicism, political action in an era of monarchs, theology vs. science, and Church vs. state. Prominent writers on these topics include Machiavelli, Erasmus, Castiglione, Rabelais, Montaigne, and Thomas More. Their answers to the thorny issues vary widely.
• Religious reform. Scholars study Greek and Hebrew versions of the Bible in an attempt to eliminate medieval accretions, and to eliminate procedures that stand between individual worshippers and God. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, posted in 1517, mark the beginning of the Reformation: Western Christianity, formerly a monolithic whole, splits into Catholics and Protestants. The Counter-Reformation (Catholic response to the Reformation) begins in 1545 with the Council of Trent, which insists that the Bible be read in Latin, clarifies Catholic doctrine, and reforms abuses such as the sale of indulgences.
• Continued decline of a universal European culture with Latin as its lingua franca, and increasing development of national cultures with their own vernacular languages. Fissures caused by religious wars exacerbate this.
• Art (Latin ars, artis) is any discipline that involves cultivation of skill in order to achieve mastery, including mathematics, music, science, painting, sculpture, architecture, technology, magic, alchemy. Artists are no longer mere artisans.

Media

• Marble
• Bronze

Subjects

• Biblical & mythological subjects
• Portraits

Style

• High Renaissance style continues Early Renaissance focus on precise details of perceived reality, and on showing heroic figures and moral messages.
• Mannerist style: spin-off of Renaissance art (most Michelangelo’s works) that begins in the 1510s in Florence and Rome, then spreads to northern Italy and to northern and central Europe. Its artists are obsessed with elegance and virtuoso technique. Figures characteristically have small heads, elongated limbs, and complex poses. Mannerism is more dominant in painting (later Michelangelo, Vasari, Rosso Fiorentino, Parmigianino) than sculpture.

Major innovations in this period

• The artist as genius. Michelangelo insists that as an artist, his highest obligation is to make his own vision real – not merely execute what a patron wants. After Michelangelo and because of him, it becomes increasingly common to regard a top-notch artist as a genius who must be allowed to set his own terms. Result: scholars write the first biographies of artists (Vasari’s Lives, 1550), and collectors begin seeking out artists’ sketches and writings, for the insight they offer to the artistic process.

Note: If we were talking about High Renaissance painting as well as sculpture, we’d look at the innovations of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. Check those out in Innovators in Painting, Chapters 20-25.

Big names in sculpture

• Michelangelo (d. 1564): early works such as the David (1504) show heroic, muscular figures. Michelangelo was strongly influenced by the Laocoon (see Hellenistic), which was rediscovered in 1506; works such as Moses and Victory show far more twisting motion than Michelangelo’s earliest works. In his latest works, figures are elongated, less muscular, and less vigorous. (Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor first and foremost, but at the insistence of Pope Julius II painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 1508-1512.
• Benvenuto Cellini (d. 1571), Florentine, famous for the high quality of his work, including Perseus (below), a gold salt-cellar created for the King of France (see top of post). He wrote an autobiography of his adventurous life.
• Giambologna (Giovanni da Bologna, d. 1608) is most famous for elegant, twisting works such as Hercules and Nessus (below) and Mercury (above).

Where to see the originals of High Renaissance & Mannerist sculpture

• Museums, churches, and plazas of Rome and Florence.
• Major museums such as the Vatican and the Louvre
• The Frick Collection in New York City has a collection of small bronzes of this period. Until the Frick returns to its permanent home on East 70th St., you should check to find out whether the bronzes are currently on display.

Further reading

• Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy: a fictionalized life of Michelangelo.
• Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo.
• Dorothy Dunnett, Lymond Chronicles: 6 volumes, beginning with Game of Kings.

More

• For more on the why and how of the Sculpture Synopsis, see the first post in this series. The series is also available as a playlist on my YouTube Channel.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here. For examples of favorite recommendations from past years, click here.