Our discussion of the Mannerist style was continued with Bronzino. His painting Allegory with Venus and Cupid exhibits this style well with the organized chaos and confusing scene. There are multiple figures who are difficult to identify, with ideas including from Fraud, Folly, Jealousy, Envy, Syphilis, and Pleasure. Erotic themes are present with Venus appearing to kiss her son Cupid and simply weird elements like a snake body with lions feet, Pleasure holding a honeycomb in one hand and scorpion in another, and the right and left hands switched. Another painting by Bronzino, a portrait of Eleonora member of the Medici family, is more refined. Meant to exhibit wealth, status, and the family’s male heir, Eleonora is displayed similarly to the Virgin. The rich blue background and height in the portrait, giving viewers the impression of Eleonora looking down on them, are attributed to this idea.
The second part of class was spent on the High Renaissance in Northern Europe. Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous German artists during this time. His wooden prints like The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse exhibit intense detail that required patience and skill to carve out. Inspired by the millennial fear of the upcoming year 1500, Dürer represented death, famine, war, and conquest as vicious horsemen taking over. As a print, his images could be mass produced and as a result were widespread. A second impression of him as an artist is his self portrait. Painted in a full frontal view, his appearance imitates that of paintings of Christ. He gives off a self-confident and narcissistic air, and is clearly impressed with his own artistic ability.