Mannerist Attitudes

El Greco
Penitent Magdalen
ca. 1576-77
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Andrea Andreani after Parmigianino
St Cecilia
ca. 1590
chiaroscuro woodcut
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Pieter Coecke van Aelst
Lucretia
before 1550
oil on panel
Kunstmuseum Basel

Antonio Fantuzzi
The Muse Melpomene
ca. 1545
etching
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Pierre Eskrich
Art assisting Nature
(illustration to Alciati's Emblems)
ca. 1540-50
woodcut
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Giulio Bonasone
Mercury with Seven-Branched Candlestick
ca. 1555
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Cornelis Cort after Antoine Lafréry
Statue of Antique Warrior with Dead Child
1574
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci)
Sibyl
ca. 1540
drawing
Harvard Art Museums

Lucas van Leyden
Fall of Man
1529
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Michele Tosini
St John the Baptist
ca. 1570
oil on panel
Saint Louis Art Museum

Lambert Zutman
St John the Evangelist
1545
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Adamo Scultori after Giulio Romano
Musical Faun and Nymph
before 1585
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Antonio Campi
Design for Architectural Ornaments
ca. 1570
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

attributed to Girolamo Siciolante
Holy Family
ca. 1544
oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Luis de Morales
Ecce Homo
before 1586
oil on panel
Detroit Institute of Arts

Hans Hoffmann
Expulsion from Paradise
ca. 1580-90
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Chorus of Persian Elders:  How it pains me to hear of these many sufferings, present and still to come, of the people of the East!

Queen:  O god, how many dire sorrows are coming upon me!  But the misfortune that stings me most of all is to hear of the dishonourable state of the garments that clothe my son's body.  I am going  now, and I will take proper attire from the palace and try to meet my son.  We will not fail those who are dearest to us when they are in trouble. 

[Exit.]

Chorus:  O popoi! What a great and good life we enjoyed

                in our well-run city, when our old 

                never-failing, never-harming, invincible king,

                godlike Darius, ruled the country!

                

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

Mannerist Groupings

Nicolò dell'Abate
Courtiers attending a Stag Hunt
ca. 1560
oil on canvas
Galleria Borghese, Rome

El Greco
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1596-1600
oil on canvas
(fragment of altarpiece installation)
Romanian National Museum of Art, Bucharest

Antonio Campi
Christ carrying the Cross
ca. 1560-70
oil on panel
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Anonymous Tuscan Artist
Incredulity of Thomas
ca. 1590
oil on panel
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Giorgio Ghisi after Giulio Romano
Cupid and Psyche
ca. 1573-74
engraving
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Orazio Farinati after Paolo Farinati
Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist
ca. 1580
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Raphael Sadeler after Nicolas de Hoey
Sodomites stricken Blind
1583
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Juan de Juanes
Dead Christ supported by Angels
ca. 1570-75
oil on panel
Dallas Museum of Art

Christoph Schwarz
St Nicholas of Tolentino and St Sebastian
ca. 1580
oil on panel
Deutsche Barockgalerie, Augsburg

Domenico Tibaldi after Agostino Carracci
The Transfiguration
ca. 1582
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Michiel Coxie
Martyrdom of St George
ca. 1550
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Royal Museum of Fine Arts
Antwerp

Palma il Giovane
Study for Crucifixion
ca. 1590
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Girolamo Siciolante
Crucifixion with the Virgin
and St John the Evangelist
ca. 1573
oil on canvas
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Marten de Vos the Elder
Beheading of St John the Baptist
1574
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Niccolò Vicentino after Parmigianino
Sheet of Studies
ca. 1530-40
chiaroscuro woodcut
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Anonymous Fontainebleau School Artist
Woman choosing between Young Man and Old Man
(commedia dell'arte figures)
ca. 1575
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes

Chorus of Persian Elders:  What then, lord Darius?  To what conclusion to your words lead?  After this, how can we, the Persian people, get the best possible outcome for the future?

Ghost of Darius:  By not invading the land of the Greeks, not even with a Median army still greater than before!  Their country itself fights as their ally. 

Chorus:  How to you mean?  In what way does it fight as their ally?

Ghost:  By starving to death a multitude that is too vastly numerous.

Chorus:  Well, we'll raise a picked, well-equipped expedition.

Ghost:  No, not even the army that has now been left in the land of Greece will gain a safe return home. 

Chorus:  What do you mean?  Hasn't the whole of the Eastern army crossed back from Europe over the strait of Helle? 

Ghost:  Few out of many, if one is to place any credence in the oracles of the gods, looking at what has now happened – for oracles are not fulfilled by halves.  If that is indeed so, Xerxes, seduced by vain hopes, has left behind a large, select portion of his army.  They remain where the Asopus waters the plain with its stream, bringing welcome enrichment to the soil of the Boeotians.  There the destiny awaits them of suffering a crowning catastrophe, in requital for their outrageous actions and their godless arrogance.  When they came to the land of Greece, they did not scruple to plunder the images of the gods and set fire to temples: altars have vanished, and the abodes of deities have been ruined, uprooted, wrenched from their foundations.  Because of this evil they have done, they are suffering evil to match it in full measure, and have still to suffer more: the fountain of suffering has not stopped flowing – more of it is still gushing forth, so great will be the clotted libation of slain men's blood on the soil of the Plataeans, shed by the Dorian spear.  The heaps of corpses will voicelessly proclaim to the eyes of men, even to the third generation, that one who is a mortal should not think arrogant thoughts: outrage has blossomed, and has produced a crop of ruin, from which it is reaping a harvest of universal sorrow.     

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

Mannerist Poses

Jacob Binck
Drunken Silenus
ca. 1530
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Jan Sadeler the Elder after Bartholomeus Spranger
Aristotle and Phyllis
ca. 1585
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Francesco Primaticcio
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1540-50
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Giorgio Ghisi after Francesco Primaticcio
Juno and two other Deities
(after now-destroyed ceiling of Ulysses Gallery at Fontainebleau)
ca. 1560-70
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Perino del Vaga after Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio
Mercury and Herse
ca. 1540
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio after Rosso Fiorentino
Figure of Fury
ca. 1520-40
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jean Cousin the Elder
Allegory of Drunkenness
ca. 1555
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Battista Franco (il Semolei)
The Annunciation
1559
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Hendrik Goltzius
St Jude
1589
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Giorgio Vasari
Holy Family with St Anne
and young St John the Baptist
ca. 1542
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Enea Vico after Giorgio Vasari
Two Pilgrims resting at a Spring
1542
engraving
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Johann Ladenspelder
Jupiter
(series, Seven Planets)
before 1561
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Giuseppe Porta (Giuseppe Salviati)
The Virgin swooning at the Crucifixion
ca. 1550
drawing (study for altarpiece)
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Adriaen Collaert after Jan van der Straet
Venus, Juno and Minerva
assembled for the Judgment of Paris
1587
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Francesco Mosca
Fall of Phaeton
ca. 1560
marble relief
Bode Museum, Berlin

Jacopo Tintoretto
The Flagellation
ca. 1585-90
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Queen of Persia:  The rash Xerxes, I should tell you, was taught this way of thinking by associating with wicked men.  They said that whereas you had acquired great wealth for your children by warfare, he, from unmanliness, was being a stay-at-home warrior and doing nothing to increase the riches he had inherited.  It was because he had heard taunts like that, over and over again, from these wicked men, that he planned this military expedition against Greece.

Ghost of Darius:  And so he has completed an immense, never-to-be-forgotten achievement; nothing else that has befallen this city of Susa has ever emptied it like this, since Lord Zeus first granted us this honour, that one man should be supreme over the whole of sheep-rearing Asia, wielding the sceptre of directive authority.  Medus was the first leader of our host, and his son also achieved this position.  The third ruler in the succession from him was Cyrus, a man blessed by the gods, who gave peace to all those he cared for, since his intelligence was in control of his fighting spirit; he gained mastery over the peoples of Lydia and Phrygia, and overran all of Ionia by force.  God did not hate him, because he was wise.  The son of Cyrus was the fourth to direct the host.  The fifth ruler was Mardus, a disgrace to his country and to his ancient throne.  He was killed in his palace, by mens of a crafty plot, by the admirable Artaphrenes together with some friends who took on this duty and with myself; and I gained by chance the lot I desired.  And I invaded many lands with great armies, but I never inflicted on my state such harm as this.  My son Xerxes, though, is still a young man, thinking young man's thoughts, and he has not kept my instructions in mind.  I tell you this plainly, my old contemporaries: take all of us together who have held this kingship, and we will not be found to have caused this much suffering. 

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

Mannerist Figures

Anonymous Italian Artist
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1580
oil on canvas
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Anonymous Italian Artist after Domenico Beccafumi
Figures in a Landscape
ca. 1550-1600
drawing
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Maarten van Heemskerck
Decorative Panel with Samson
ca. 1550-60
oil on panel (grisaille)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Cornelis van Haarlem
Baptism of Christ
ca. 1588
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Johann Ladenspelder
Adam
before 1561
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Jan Sadeler the Elder after Theodor Bernard
Noon
(from series, Times of Day)
1582
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Domenico Tintoretto
Susanna
ca. 1580-90
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Bartholomeus Spranger
Apollo
ca. 1590
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Francesco Salviati
Apollo slaying Python
ca. 1543-48
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Cherubino Alberti after Polidoro da Caravaggio
Saturn
1590
engraving
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Anonymous Fontainebleau School Artist
Diane Chasseresse
(portrait of Diane de Poitiers)
ca. 1550
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Hans Brosamer
Hercules and Antaeus
1540
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Antoine Lafréry
Antique Statue of Hermaphrodite in the Farnese Collection, Rome
1552
engraving (book illustration)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Adamo Scultori
Woman combing her Hair
before 1585
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio after Perino del Vaga
Cupid and Psyche
ca. 1540
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

attributed to Simone Peterzano
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1560-70
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Queen of Persia:  And Xerxes himself, they say, alone and forlorn, with only a few men –

Ghost of Darius:  How did he finish up, and where? Is there any chance of his being safe? 

Queen:  – has arrived, to his relief, at the bridge that joins the two lands together.

Ghost:  And has come safe back to our continent? Is that really true? 

Queen:  Yes, that is the prevalent and definite report; there is no dispute about it. 

Ghost:  Ah, how swiftly the oracles have come true! Zeus has launched the fulfillment of the prophecies against my son. I used to think confidently, "I suppose the gods will fulfil them in some distant future;" but when a man is in a hurry himself, the god will lend him a hand. Now, it seems there has been discovered a fountain of sorrow for all who are dear to me – and it is my son, by his youthful rashness, who has achieved this without knowing what he was doing. He thought he could stop the flow of the Hellespont, the divine stream of the Bosporus, by putting chains on it, as if it were a slave; he altered the nature of its passage, put hammered fetters upon it, and created a great pathway for a great army. He thought, ill-counselled as he was, that he, a mortal, could lord it over all the gods and over Poseidon. Surely this was a mental disease that had my son in its grip! I am afraid that the great wealth I gained by my labours may be overturned and become the booty of the first comer.  

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)