Northern Mannerism

Bartholomeus Spranger,Hercules,DeianiraandNessus,1580–85

Northern Mannerismis the form ofMannerismfound in the visual arts north of theAlpsin the 16th and early 17th centuries.Styles largely derived from Italian Mannerism were found in the Netherlands and elsewhere from around the mid-century, especially Mannerist ornament in architecture; this article concentrates on those times and places where Northern Mannerism generated its most original and distinctive work.

The three main centres of the style were in France, especially in the period 1530–1550, in Prague from 1576, and in the Netherlands from the 1580s—the first two phases very much led by royal patronage. In the last 15 years of the century, the style, by then becoming outdated in Italy, was widespread across northern Europe, spread in large part through prints. In painting, it tended to recede rapidly in the new century, under the new influence ofCaravaggioand the early Baroque, but in architecture and the decorative arts, its influence was more sustained.

Background

StuccooverdooratFontainebleau,probably designed byPrimaticcio,who painted the oval inset

The sophisticated art of Italian Mannerism begins during theHigh Renaissanceof the 1520s as a development of, a reaction against, and an attempt to excel, the serenely balanced triumphs of that style. As art historian Henri Zerner explains: "The concept of Mannerism—so important to modern criticism and notably to the renewed taste for Fontainebleau art—designates a style in opposition to the classicism of the Italian Renaissance embodied above all byAndrea del Sartoin Florence andRaphaelin Rome ".

The High Renaissance was a purely Italian phenomenon, and Italian Mannerism required both artists and an audience highly trained in the preceding Renaissance styles, whose conventions were often flouted in a knowing fashion. In Northern Europe, however, such artists, and such an audience, could hardly be found. The prevailing style remainedGothic,and different syntheses of this and Italian styles were made in the first decades of the 16th century by more internationally aware artists such asAlbrecht Dürer,Hans Burgkmairand others in Germany, and the misleadingly named school ofAntwerp Mannerism,in fact unrelated to, and preceding, Italian Mannerism.Romanismwas more thoroughly influenced by Italian art of the High Renaissance, and aspects of Mannerism, and many of its leading exponents had travelled to Italy.Netherlandish paintinghad been generally the most advanced in northern Europe since before 1400, and the best Netherlandish artists were better able than those of other regions to keep up with Italian developments, though lagging at a distance.

For each succeeding generations of artists, the problem became more acute, as much Northern work continued to gradually assimilate aspects of Renaissance style, while the most advanced Italian art had spiralled into an atmosphere of self-conscious sophistication and complexity that must have seemed a world apart to Northern patrons and artists, but enjoyed a reputation and prestige that could not be ignored.

France

See also:Henry II style

Diana the Huntress,School of Fontainebleau,1550s

France received a direct injection of Italian style in the form of the firstSchool of Fontainebleau,where from 1530 several Florentine artists of quality were hired to decorate the royalPalace of Fontainebleau,with some French assistants being taken on. The most notable imports wereRosso Fiorentino(Giovanni Battista di Jacopo di Gaspare, 1494–1540),Francesco Primaticcio(c. 1505–1570),Niccolò dell'Abbate(c. 1509–1571), all of whom remained in France until their deaths. This conjunction succeeded in generating a native French style with strong Mannerist elements that was then able to develop largely on its own.Jean Cousin the Elder,for example, produced paintings, such asEva Prima PandoraandCharity,that, with their sinuous, elongated nudes, drew palpably upon the artistic principles of the Fontainebleau school.

Cousin's sonJean the Younger,most of whose works have not survived, andAntoine Caronboth followed in this tradition, producing an agitated version of the Mannerist aesthetic in the context of theFrench Wars of Religion.Theiconographyof figurative works was mostly mythological, with a strong emphasis onDiana,goddess of the hunting that was the original function of Fontainebleau, and namesake ofDiane de Poitiers,mistress and muse ofHenry II,and keen huntress herself. Her slim, long-legged and athletic figure "became fixed in the erotic imaginary".

Other parts of Northern Europe did not have the advantage of such intense contact with Italian artists, but the Mannerist style made its presence felt through prints and illustrated books, the purchases of Italian works by rulers and others,artists' travels to Italy, and the example of individual Italian artists working in the North.

French or Burgundian table inwalnut,2nd half of the 16th century

Much of the most important work at Fontainebleau was in the form ofstuccoreliefs,often executed by French artists to drawings by the Italians (and then reproduced in prints), and the Fontainebleau style affected French sculpture more strongly than French painting. The huge stucco frames which dominate their inset paintings with bold high-reliefstrapwork,swags of fruit, and generous staffage of naked nymph-like figures, were very influential on the vocabulary of Mannerist ornament all over Europe, spread by ornament books and prints byAndrouet du Cerceauand others—Rosso seems to have been the originator of the style.

A number of areas in the decorative arts joined in the style, especially where there were customers from the court. High-style walnut furniture made in metropolitan centers like Paris and Dijon, employed strapwork framing and sculptural supports indressoirsandbuffets.The mysterious and sophisticatedSaint-Porchaire ware,of which only about sixty pieces survive, brought a similar aesthetic into pottery, and much of it carries royal cyphers. This was followed by the "rustic" pottery ofBernard Palissy,with vessels covered in elaborately modelled relief animals and plants. PaintedLimoges enameladopted the style with enthusiasm around 1540, and many workshops produced highly detailed painting until about the 1580s.

Apart from the Palace of Fontainebleau itself, other important buildings decorated in the style were theChâteau d'Anet(1547–52) for Diane de Poitiers, and parts of thePalais du Louvre.Catherine de' Medici's patronage of the artspromoted the Mannerist style, except in portraiture, and hercourt festivitieswere the only regular northern ones to rival theintermediosandentriesof theMedicicourt in Florence; all of which relied heavily on the visual arts. After an interlude when work on Fontainebleau was abandoned at the height of the French Wars of Religion, a "Second School of Fontainebleau" was formed from local artists in the 1590s.

• 
  Monument containing the heart ofHenry II of France,Germain Pilon
• 
  Shield of Henry II of France, steel damascened in silver and gold, design attributed toEtienne Delaune
• 
  Design for a Vessel Presented to Henry II,Jean Cousin the Elder,1549
• 
  Detail of dish inLimoges enamel,mid-16th century, attributed toJean de Court
• 
  Saint-Porchaire ware,Triangular salt, 1540s?, 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm) high, with a (?) satyr, and (?) Venus at right.

Prague under Rudolf II

VertumnusbyGiuseppe Arcimboldo,a portrait depictingRudolf II, Holy Roman Emperorpainted asVertumnus,the Roman God of the seasons,c. 1590–91.Skokloster Castle,Sweden

Portrait of Emperor Rudolf II,c. 1607,byHans von Aachen

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor(reigned 1564–1576), who made his base inVienna,hadhumanistand artistic tastes, and patronised a number of artists, mostly famouslyGiambolognaandGiuseppe Arcimboldo,whose fantasy portraits made up of objects were slightly more serious in the world of late-Renaissance philosophy than they seem now. At the end of his reign he devised a project for a new palace and just before he died the young Flemish painterBartholomeus Sprangerhad been summoned from Rome, where he had made a successful career. Maximilian's son,Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperorwas to prove an even better patron than his father would have been, and Spranger never left his service. The court soon transferred toPrague,safer from the regular Turkish invasions, and during his reign of 1576–1612 Rudolf was to become an obsessive collector of old and new art, his artists mi xing with the astronomers, clockmakers, botanists, and "wizards, alchemists and kabbalists" whom Rudolf also gathered around him.

Bartholomeus Spranger,Minervatriumphs over Ignorance,1591, "an astonishing makeover... [Minerva] never looks as glamorous anywhere else".

Rudolf's artistic preferences were for mythological scenes with nudes as well as allegorical propaganda pieces which extolled the virtues of himself as ruler. A work combining the elements of eroticism and propaganda isMinerva triumphs over Ignorance(Kunsthistorisches Museum), which shows Minverva (the Roman goddess of war, wisdom, arts and trade) with exposed breasts and a helmet treading down Ignorance, symbolised by a man with the ears of an ass.Bellona,another Roman goddess of war, and the nineMusessurround Minerva. The propaganda message is that the empire is safe with Rudolf at the helm so that the arts and trade can flourish.The Flemish sculptorHans Montalso worked for Rudolf and designed the triumphal arch for Rudolf II's formal entry into Vienna in 1576.

Works from Rudolf's Prague were highly finished and refined, with most paintings being relatively small. The elongation of figures and strikingly complex poses of the first wave of Italian Mannerism were continued, and the elegant distance ofBronzino's figures was mediated through the works of the absent Giambologna, who represented the ideal of the style.

Printswere essential to disseminate the style to Europe, Germany and the Low Countries in particular, and some printmakers, like the greatest of the period,Hendrik Goltzius,worked from drawings sent from Prague, while others, likeAegidius Sadelerwho lived in Spranger's house, had been tempted to the city itself. Rudolf also commissioned work from Italy, above all from Giambologna, who the Medicis would not allow to leave Florence, and four great mythologicalallegorieswere sent byPaolo Veronese.The Emperor's influence affected art in other German courts, notablyMunichandDresden,where thegoldsmithand artistJohann Kellerthalerwas based.

Rudolf was not very interested in religion, and "in the Prague of Rudolf II, an explosion of mythological imagery was produced that had not been seen since Fontainebleau".Goddesses were usually naked, or nearly so, and a more overt atmosphere of eroticism prevails than is found in most Renaissance mythological works, evidently reflecting Rudolf's "special interests".

The dominating figure wasHercules,identified with the emperor, as he had earlier been with earlierHabsburgandValoismonarchs.But the other gods were not neglected; their conjunctions and transformations had significance inRenaissance Neo-PlatonismandHermeticismthat were taken more seriously in Rudolf's Prague than any other Renaissance court.It seems, however, that the painted allegories from Prague contain neither very specific complicated meanings, nor hidden recipes for alchemy. Giambologna frequently chose, or let someone else choose, a title for his sculptures after their completion; for him it was only the forms that mattered.

Influence of Prague elsewhere

• 
  Bacchus, Ceres and Amor(Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus),c. 1600,byHans von Aachen
• 
  Utrecht–Joachim Wtewael,VenusandMarssurprised byVulcan,1601, 21 x 16 cm on copper.
• 
  Hans von Aachen,Allegory of Peace and the Arts,1602.
• 
  Haarlem–Karel van Mander,Garden of Love,1602
• 
  Haarlem–Roelant Savery,Garden of Eden,a typical subject, 1622. Rudolf also had large menageries, including adodo,seen in many paintings.

Netherlands Mannerism

Abraham Bloemaert,Niobemourning her children,1591

Whereas the artists of both Fontainebleau and Prague were mostly provided with a home so congenial in both intellectual and physical terms that they stayed to the end of their lives, for artists of the last Netherlandish phase of the movement Mannerism was very often a phase through which they passed before moving on to a style influenced byCaravaggio.

ForHendrik Goltzius,the greatest printmaker of the day, his most Mannerist phase under the influence of Spranger only lasted for the five years between 1585, when he engraved his first print after one of the Spranger drawings brought from Prague byKarel van Mander,to his trip to Rome in 1590, from which he "returned a changed artist. From this time on he no longer made prints after Spranger's extravaganzas. The monstrous muscle-men and over-elongated female nudes with tiny heads... were replaced by figures with more normal proportions and movements."Spranger's work "had a wide and immediate effect in the Northern Netherlands",and the group known as the "Haarlem Mannerists", principally Goltzius, van Mander, andCornelis van Haarlemwas matched by artists in other cities.

Joachim Wtewael's elaborate allegory presents itself as aKitchen Scenewith virtuoso passages ofstill life,1604

Partly because most of his Netherlandish followers had only seen Spranger's work through prints and his mostly very free drawings, his more painterly handling was not adopted, and they retained the tighter and more realistic technique in which they had been trained. Many Dutch mannerist painters could switch styles depending on subject or commission, and continued to produce portraits and genre scenes in styles based on local traditions at the same time they were working on highly Mannerist paintings. After his return from Italy, Goltzius moved to a quieter proto-Baroque classicism, and his work in that style influenced many.

Joachim Wtewael,who settled inUtrechtafter returning from Italy in 1590, drew more influence from Italian Mannerists than from Prague, and also continued to produce kitchen scenes and portraits alongside his naked deities. Unlike many, notably his fellow UtrechterAbraham Bloemaert,once Wtewael's repertoire of styles was formed, he never changed it until his death in 1631.

A less typical, but forward-looking, pure landscape byRoelandt Savery,Forest with deer,1608–1610.

For painters in the Low Countries there was also the alternative of traditional Northern realist styles, which had continued to develop throughPieter Bruegel the Elder(d.1567) and other artists, and in the next century were to dominate the painting of theDutch Golden Age.Despite his visit to Italy,Brughelcertainly cannot be called a Mannerist, but just as his paintings were keenly collected by Rudolf, Mannerist artists, includingGillis van Coninxlooand Bruegel's son Jan, followed him in developing the landscape as a subject.

Landscape painting was recognised as a Netherlandish speciality in Italy, where several Northern landscapists were based, such asMatthijsandPaul Bril,and the GermansHans RottenhammerandAdam Elsheimer,the last an important figure in the Early Baroque. Most still painted Netherlandish panoramas from a high view-point, with small figures forming a specific subject, but Gillis van Coninxloo followed the earlierDanube SchoolandAlbrecht Altdorferin developing the pure and "close-up" forest landscape in his works from about 1600, which was taken up by his pupilRoelandt Saveryand others.Bloemaert painted many landscapes reconciling these types by combining close-up trees, with figures, and a small distant view from above to one side (example below).Paul Brill's early landscapes were distinctly Mannerist in their artificiality and crowded decorative effects, but after his brother's death, he gradually evolved a more economical and realistic style, perhaps influenced byAnnibale Carracci.

Ambrosius Bosschaert,still-life,1614

Still-lifepainting, usually mostly of flowers and insects, also emerged as a genre during the period, re-purposing the inherited tradition of late Netherlandishminiatureborders;Jan Brueghel the Elderalso painted these. Such subjects appealed to both aristocratic patrons and the bourgeois market, which was far larger in the Netherlands. This was especially so in the Protestant north, after the movement of populations in the Revolt, where the demand for religious works was largely absent.

Joris Hoefnagel,acourt painterof Rudolf II, played an important role in the development of the still life as an independent genre, and in particular still lifes of flowers. An undated flower piece executed by Hoefnagel in the form of a miniature is the first known independent still life. Hoefnagel enlivened his flower pieces with insects and attention to detail typical of his nature studies. This can be seen in his 1589Amoris Monumentum Matri Chariss(imae)(ex-Nicolaas Teeuwisse 2008).

Karel van Mander is now remembered mainly as a writer on art rather than an artist. Though he endorsed the Italianhierarchy of genres,withhistory paintingat the top, he was readier thanVasariand other Italian theorists (above allMichelangelo,who was brusquely dismissive of 'lower' forms of art) to accept the value of other specialized genres of art, and to accept that many artists should specialize in these, if that is where their talent lay.Specialization of many artists in the various genres was well advanced by the end of the century, in both the Netherlands and Prague, exemplified by Bruegel's two sons,JanandPieter,though it was also typical of the period that they both had more than one speciality during their careers. Although landscapes, scenes of peasant life, sea-scapes and still lifes could be bought by dealers for stock, and good portraits were always in demand, demand for history painting was not equal to the potential supply, and many artists, likeCornelius Ketel,were forced to specialize in portraiture; "artists travel along this road without delight", according to van Mander.

TheSeven Liberal ArtsbyMarten de Vos,1590

The Mannerist painters in the now permanently separated southern provinces ofHabsburgFlandersin fact were less influenced by Prague than those in theUnited Provinces.They had more easy access to Italy, whereDenis Calvaertlived from the age of twenty inBologna,though selling much of his work back to Flanders. BothMarten de VosandOtto van Veenhad travelled there; Van Veen, who had actually worked in Rudolf's Prague, was the founder of theGuild of Romanists,an Antwerp club for artists who had visited Rome. They were more conscious of recent trends in Italian art, and the emergence ofBaroquestyle, which in the hands of Van Veen's pupil from 1594 to 1598,Rubens,would soon sweep over Flemish art.In religious works, Flemish artists were also subject to the decrees of theCouncil of Trent,leading to a reaction against the more extreme virtuosities of Mannerism and to a clearer, more monumental style akin to the Italianmaniera grande.In theretablesof de Vos, for example, "a tempered Mannerism is combined with a preference for narrative that is more in line with Netherlandish tradition".

In Flanders, though not in the United Provinces, the mostly temporary displays forroyal entriesprovided occasional opportunities for lavish public exhibitions of Mannerist style.Festival booksrecorded the entries into Antwerp of French princes and Habsburg archdukes.

Poland–Lithuania

Ostrogskitomb, by Willem van den Blocke,TarnówCathedral, 1612

Main article:Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland

Mannerism was dominant inPoland–Lithuaniabetween 1550 and 1650, when it was finally replaced by the Baroque.The style includes various mannerist traditions,which are closely related with ethnic and religious diversity of the country, as well as with its economic and political situation at that time.The period between 1550 and 1650 was a Golden Age of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth(created in 1569) and a Golden Age of Poland.The first half of the 17th century is marked by strong activity of theJesuitsandCounter-Reformation,which led to banishing of progressive Arians (Polish Brethren) in 1658. See below for the German-Silesian painterBartholomeus Strobel,Polish court artist from 1639.

Dissemination in prints and books

EngravingofRudolf IIbyAegidius Sadeler(1603), based on a drawing (frame) and painted portrait byBartholomeus Spranger.

The importance of prints as a medium for disseminating Mannerist style has already been mentioned; Northern Mannerism "was a style that lent itself admirably to printmaking, and inspired the production of a succession of masterpieces of the printmaker's art".Goltzius was already the most celebrated engraver in the Netherlands when the Mannerist virus struck, and despite the disruptions of war he and other Netherlandish printmakers were connected with the well-oiled machinery of distribution across Europe that had been built up over the preceding fifty years, originally centred onAntwerp.

The same had not been true for the printmaking at Fontainebleau, and the prints made there (unusually for the period, all inetching) were technically rather rough, produced in smaller numbers, and mainly influential in France. They were made in an intense period of activity approximately from 1542 to 1548.Those made in Paris wereengravingsand of a higher quality; produced from about 1540 to about 1580, they had a wider distribution.

Many of the Fontainebleau prints were apparently made directly from drawn designs for the decorations of the palace, and consisted largely or entirely of ornamental frames orcartouches,although such was the scale of Fontainebleau that these might contain several full-length figures. Variations on the elaborate framings, as if made of cut, pierced and rolled parchment, played out in decorative framing schemes, engraved title pages and carved and inlaid furniture into the seventeenth century.

Printed Mannerist ornament, in a somewhat broader sense of the word, was a good deal easier to produce than the risky application of an extreme Mannerist style to large figure compositions, and had been spreading across Europe well in advance of painting in the form of frames to portrait prints,book frontispieces,so like the elaborate doorways and fireplaces of Mannerist architecture,ornament books for artists and craftsmen, andemblem books.From these and works in their own medium, goldsmiths, frame and furniture makers, and workers in many other crafts developed the vocabulary of Mannerist ornament.

The pattern illustrations shown inWendel Dietterlin's bookArchitecturaof 1593–94, produced in the relative backwater ofStrasbourg,were some of the most extreme application of the style to architectural ornament.The Northern Mannerist style was especially influential in theprodigy housesbuilt in England by Elizabethan courtiers.

• 
  Christ andMary Magdalenein the garden.Sadeler engraving afterBartholomeus Spranger
• 
  Jan Saenredam,Venus and Cupid,afterHendrick Goltzius
• 
  Icarusby Goltzius
• 
  Composite ordercolumns fromWendel Dietterlin'sArchitectura(1593–94).

In the decorative arts

See also:Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture

Impractical cup in form of a seahorse (presumably the head comes off),Leipzig1590

The visual wit and sophistication of Mannerism in northern hands, which made it pre-eminently acourtstyle, found natural vehicles in the work of goldsmiths,set off by gems and coloured enamels, in which the misshaped pearls we call "baroque"might form human and animal torsos, both as jewellery for personal adornment and in objects made for theWunderkammer.Ewers and vases took fantastic shapes, as did standing cups with onyx or agate bowls, and elaborate saltcellars like theSalieraofBenvenuto Cellini,the apex of Mannerist goldsmithing, completed in 1543 forFrancis Iand later given to Rudolf'suncle,anothergreat collector.Wenzel Jamnitzerand his son Hans, goldsmiths to a succession of Holy Roman Emperors, including Rudolf, were unexcelled in the north.Silversmiths made covered cups and richly wrought ewers and platters, strictly for display, perhaps incorporating the large sea-shells now being brought back from the tropics, which were "cherished as Art produced by Nature".In the Netherlands a uniquely anamorphic "auricular style",employing writhing and anti-architectural cartilaginous motifs was developed by the van Vianen family of silversmiths.

Detail of Rudolf's Imperial crown, gold,enameland jewels. Prague, 1602

Though Mannerist sculptors produced life-size bronzes, the bulk of their output by unit was of editions of small bronzes, often reduced versions of the large compositions, which were intended to be appreciated by holding and turning in the hands, when the best "give an aesthetic stimulus of that involuntary kind that sometimes comes from listening to music".Plaquettes,small lowreliefpanels in bronze, often gilded, were used in various settings, as on Rudolph's crown.

Female sphinxeswith extravagantly elongated necks and prominent breasts support a Burgundian cabinet of walnut in theFrick Collection,New York; soonAntwerpmade a specialty of richly carved and veneered cabinets inlaid with tortoiseshell, ebony,and ivory, with architectural interiors, mirrored to multiply reflections in feigned spaces. In England the Mannerist excesses ofJacobean furniturewere expressed in extreme legs turned to imitate stacked covered standing cups, and a proliferation of enlacedstrapworkcovered plane surfaces.Following the success ofBrussels tapestrieswoven after theRaphael Cartoons,Mannerist painters likeBernard van OrleyandPerino del Vagawere called upon to designcartoonsin Mannerist style for thetapestryworkshops of Brussels and Fontainebleau. Painterly compositions in Mannerist taste appeared inLimoges enamelstoo, adapting their compositions and ornamented borders from prints.Moresques,swags andfestoonsof fruit inspired by rediscovered Ancient Romangrotesqueornament, first displayed in theRaphael school VaticanStanze,were disseminated throughornament prints.This ornamental vocabulary was expressed in the North less in suchfrescoesand more intapestryandilluminated manuscriptborders.

In France,Saint-Porchaire wareof Mannerist forms and decor was produced in limited quantities for a restricted fashion-conscious clientele from the 1520s to the 1540s, while the crowded, disconcertingly lifelike compositions of snakes and toads characterize the Mannerist paintedearthenwareplatters ofBernard Palissy.Like the Jamnitzers on occasion,Palissy made moulds from real small creatures and plants to apply to his creations.

"Rustic" glazed earthenware platter attributed toBernard Palissy,Paris

Northern Mannerism, politics and religion

Northern Europe in the 16th century, and especially those areas where Mannerism was at its strongest, was affected by massive upheavals including theProtestant Reformation,Counter-Reformation,French Wars of ReligionandDutch Revolt.The relationship between Mannerism, religion and politics was very complex. Although religious works were produced, Northern Mannerist art de-emphasized religious subjects, and when it did treat them was usually against the spirit both of the Counter-Reformationattempt to control Catholic artand Protestant views on religious imagery.

In the case of Rudolf's Prague and French art after the mid-century, secular and mythological Mannerist art seems to have been partly a deliberate attempt to produce an art that appealed across religious and political divides.At the same time, Mannerism at its most extreme was usually a court style, often used to propagandize for the monarchy,and it risked becoming discredited through association with unpopular rulers. While Rudolf's genuine tolerance seems to have avoided this in Germany andBohemia,by the end of the century Mannerism had become associated by theCalvinistProtestants and other patriots of France and the Netherlands with their unpopular Catholic rulers.But, at least earlier, many of the artists producing extreme Mannerist style were Protestant, and in France Calvinist, for exampleBernard Palissyand a high proportion of the masters of Limoges enamel workshops.

Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl,Antoine Caron,c. 1580

Certain Mannerist works seem to echo the violence of the time, but dressed in classical clothing.Antoine Caronpainted the unusual subject ofMassacres under theTriumvirate(1562, Louvre), during the Wars of Religion, when massacres were a frequent occurrence, above all in theSaint Bartholomew's Day Massacreof 1572, six years after the painting.According to art historianAnthony Blunt,Caron produced "what is perhaps the purest known type of Mannerism in its elegant form, appropriate to an exquisite but neurotic aristocratic society".His cartoons for theValois Tapestries,which hark back to the triumphalistHistory of Scipiotapestries designed forFrancis IbyGiulio Romano,were a propaganda exercise on behalf of the Valois monarchy, emphasizing its courtly splendour at the time of its threatened destruction through civil war.Jean Cousin the Younger's only surviving painting,The Last Judgement,also comments on the civil war, betraying a "typically Mannerist penchant for miniaturization".Tiny, naked human beings "swarm over the earth like worms", while God looks down in judgement from above.

Cornelis van Haarlem,Massacre of the Innocents,1590

Cornelis van Haarlem'sMassacre of the Innocents(1590,Rijksmuseum), more Baroque than Mannerist, may involve his childhood memories of the killings (in fact only of the garrison) after theSiege of Haarlemin 1572–3, which he lived through. Brughel's completely un-mannerist version of the same subject was bought by Rudolf, who had someone turn many of the massacred children into geese, calves, cheeses, and other less disturbing spoils.In general, Mannerist painting emphasizes peace and harmony, and less often chooses battle subjects than either the High Renaissance or the Baroque.

Another subject popularized by Brughel,Saint John Preaching in the Wilderness,was given Mannerist treatments by several artists, as a lush landscape subject. But for Dutch Protestants the subject recalled the years before and during their Revolt, when they were forced to congregate for services in the open countryside outside towns controlled by the Spanish.

Other outcrops

Etching byJacques Bellange,The Three Marys at the Tomb1610s

Henry VIII of Englandhad been spurred in emulation of Fontainebleau to import his own, rather less stellar,team of Italian and French artiststo work on his newNonsuch Palace,which also relied heavily on stuccoes, and was decorated from about 1541. But Henry died before it was completed and a decade later it was sold by his daughterMarywithout ever having seen major use by the court. The palace was destroyed before 1700 and only small fragments of work associated with it have survived, as well as a faint ripple of influence detectable in laterEnglish art,for example in the grand but unsophisticated stuccoes atHardwick Hall.

Some (but not all) of theprodigy housesofElizabethan architecturemade use of ornament derived from the books of Wendel Dietterlin andHans Vredeman de Vrieswithin a distinctive overall style derived from many sources.

The portrait miniaturistIsaac Olivershows tentative Late Mannerist influence,which also appears in some immigrant portrait painters, such asWilliam Scrots,but generally England was one of the countries least affected by the movement except in the area of ornament.

Though Northern Mannerism achieved a landscape style, portrait-painting remained without Northern equivalents ofBronzinoorParmigianino,unless the remarkable but somewhat naivePortraiture of Elizabeth Iis considered as such.

One of the last flowerings of Northern Mannerism came inLorraine,whose court painterJacques Bellange(c.1575–1616) is now known only from his extraordinaryetchings,though he was also a painter. His style derives from Netherlandish Mannerism, though his technique from Italian etchers, especiallyBarocciandVentura Salimbeni.Unusually, his subjects were mainly religious, and though the costumes are often extravagant, suggest intense religious feelings on his part.

Even later, the German-SilesianpainterBartholomeus Strobel,who had spent the last years of Rudolf's reign as a young artist in Prague, continued the Rudolfine style into the 1640s, despite the horrors visited on Silesia by theThirty Years War,in works such as his enormousFeast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptistin thePrado.From 1634 he retreated to the safety ofPolandas court artist.

Artists

Abraham Bloemaert,Landscape with St John Preaching in the Wilderness,c. 1600

French artists influenced by the first School of Fontainebleau:

Jean Cousin the Elder(1500–c. 1590)

Jean Goujon(c. 1510–after 1572) sculptor and architect

Juste de Juste(c. 1505– c. 1559) – sculptor and etcher

Antoine Caron(1521–1599)

The continuing French tradition:

Germain Pilon(c. 1537–1590), sculptor

Androuet du Cerceau,family of architects; Jacques I introducing Mannerist ornament

Jean Cousin the Younger(ca. 1522–1595), painter

Toussaint Dubreuil(c. 1561–1602), second School of Fontainebleau:

Landscape (oil on canvas, 63.5 x 87 cm, Musée Fesch), attributed toMatthijs Bril

Working for Rudolf:

Giambologna(1529–1608), Flemish sculptor based in Florence

Adriaen de Vries(1556–1626), Dutch sculptor, pupil of Giambologna, who went to Prague

Bartholomeus Spranger(1546–1611) – Flemish painter, Rudolf's main painter

Hans von Aachen(1552–1615) – German, mythological subjects and portraits for Rudolf

Joseph Heintz the Elder(1564–1609) – Swiss pupil of Hans von Aachen

Paul van Vianen,Dutch silversmith and artist

Aegidius Sadeler– mainly a printmaker

Wenzel Jamnitzer(1507/8–1585), and his son Hans II and grandson Christof, German goldsmiths

Joris Hoefnagel,especially for miniatures of natural history

Roelant Savery,landscapes with animals and still-lifes

The Fall of the Titans(1588–1590) byCornelis van Haarlem

In the Netherlands:

Herri met de Bles,(1510–1555/60), landscape artist, earlier than the others

Karel van Mander– now best known as a biographer of Netherlandish artists

Hendrik Goltzius(1558–1617) – the leading engraver of the period, and later a painter in a less Mannerist style.

Cornelis van Haarlem(1562–1651)

Hubert GerhardDutch, (c. 1540/1550-1620)

Joachim Wtewael(1566–1638)

Jan Saenredam– mainly a printmaker

Jacob de Gheyn II– mainly a printmaker

Abraham Bloemaert(1566–1651), in the early part of his career

Hans Vredeman de Vries(1527–c. 1607), architect, ornament designer, who wrote on garden design.

Flemish:

Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist,c. 1630s,Prado;almost 10 metres wide,Bartholomeus Strobel's masterpiece, and an allegory of theThirty Years War

Denis Calvaert– worked mostly in Italy, in a largely Italian style, as did

PaulandMatthijsBril, mostly painting landscapes

Marten de Vos,founder of theGuild of Romanists

Otto van Veen(1556–1629), painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp and Brussels

German:

Hans von Aachen(1552–1615) – German, mythological subjects and portraits for Rudolf II

Wenzel Jamnitzer(1507/8–1585), and his son Hans II and grandson Christof, German goldsmiths

Hans Rottenhammer(1564–1625) landscapist from Munich, spent several years in Italy

Wendel Dietterlin(c. 1550–1599), German painter, best known for his book on architectural decoration

Bartholomeus Strobel(1591–c. 1550), court portraitist, also religious scenes, in Silesia and then Poland.

Elsewhere:

Jacques Bellange(c. 1575–1616), court painter of Lorraine, whose work only survives inetching.

See also

• Northern Renaissance
• Renaissance humanism in Northern Europe
• Renaissance in the Low Countries
• Renaissance in Poland

References

• Blunt, Anthony,Art and Architecture in France: 1500–1700,1957, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999 edition,ISBN0-300-07748-3
• Malcolm Bull,The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods,Oxford UP, 2005,ISBN0-19-521923-6
• André Chastel,French Art: The Renaissance, 1430–1620,translated by Deke Dusinberre, Paris: Flammarion, 1995,ISBN2-08-013583-X
• Freedberg, Sydney J.,Painting in Italy, 1500–1600,3rd edn. 1993, Yale,ISBN0-300-05587-0
• Anthony Griffiths & Craig Hartley,Jacques Bellange, C. 1575–1616, Printmaker of Lorraine,British Museum Press, 1997,ISBN0-7141-2611-X
• Jacobsen, Karen, ed. (often wrongly cat. asGeorg Baselitz),The French Renaissance in Prints,1994, p. 470; Grunwald Center, UCLA,ISBN0-9628162-2-1
• Lisa JardineandJerry Brotton,Global Interests: Renaissance Art Between East And West,London:Reaktion Books,2005,ISBN1-86189-166-0
• Metzler, Sally,Artists, Alchemists and Mannerists in Courtly Prague,Wamberg, Jacob, ed:Art & alchemy,Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006,ISBN87-635-0267-4,ISBN978-87-635-0267-2
• Shawe-Taylor, Desmondand Scott, Jennifer,Bruegel to Rubens, Masters of Flemish Painting,Royal Collection Publications, London, 2008,ISBN978-1-905686-00-1
• Slive, Seymour,Dutch Painting, 1600–1800,Yale UP, 1995,ISBN0-300-07451-4
• Smyth, Craig Hugh,Mannerism and Maniera,1992,IRSA,Vienna,ISBN3-900731-33-0
• Shearman, John.Mannerism,1967, Pelican, London,ISBN0-14-020808-9
• Roy Strong;Art and Power; Renaissance Festivals 1450–1650,1984, The Boydell Press;ISBN0-85115-200-7
• Trevor-Roper, Hugh;Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517–1633,Thames & Hudson, London, 1976,ISBN0-500-23232-6
• Wilenski, R. H.;Dutch Painting,"Prologue" pp. 27–43, 1945, Faber, London
• Hans Vlieghe,Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585–1700,New Haven (CT): Yale University Press/Pelican History of Art, 1998,ISBN0-300-10469-3
• Zerner, Henri,Renaissance Art in France. The Invention of Classicism,translated by Deke Dusinberre, Scott Wilson, and Rachel Zerner, Paris: Flammarion, 2003,ISBN2-08-011144-2

External links

• Metropolitan Museum, Timeline of Art HistoryPrague during the Rule of Rudolph II (1583–1612)
• Arms, Armour, and Fine Arts,An article by Peter Kren, with information on mannerist decoration.
• Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures,an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on and examples of Northern Mannerism