Characteristics of Mannerism Style

While High Renaissance peaked in Rome, elsewhere two schools of thought emerged.
In Venice, it was Purism, led by Andreo Palladio and in Florence a new style called Proto-
Baroque or Mannerism was emerging.
The Manneristic style led by Michaelangelo was in striking contrast to the purist style.

Designers had begun to look beyond the Vitruvian rules. Impatience with the rule book
was evident. It is in the Chapel of San Lorenzo that the ‘Manneristic Approach’ is first
applied by Michaelangelo.

The mood of the buildings in Manneristic style displayed a sculptured quality that was
vivid, intense and dramatic.(unlike the purist serene quality)

The love for ornamentation is seen in the way in which stucco work was exploited to
its maximum. Art and sculpture dominated architecture in the design scheme.

Drama was the center stage of the manneristic style and was created by Local Design
Focus. False pilasters, entabulatures, sculptured figures, cantilevered double columns,
non academic approach when applying classical elements were employed to create the
dramatic and ornamental effect desired. Design often defied architectural logic.

Mannerism became popular and led to Baroque style and subsequent Rococo style.
 Medici chapel at San
Lorenzo Florence 1521
The richness of the architectural detail
in the interior as well as round the
tomb contrasts with the plain altar.
Drama was the center-stage of Mannerism.
Mannerism
The interest of design is centered
about 4mt. Up on the two opposing
walls, where the seated figure of
two dukes brood over the
sarcophagi. The composition
includes pairs of Corinthian pilasters
with no entablature and whose only
function is visually to frame the
sculptured figure.
5(b)
 Medici chapel at San
Lorenzo Florence 1521
Mannerist approach of
Michelangelo as exhibited
in the Medici chapel at San
Lorenzo –Florence, is purely
sculptural, as a contrast to
Brunelleschi’s Chapel
displaying architectural
logic.

The Medici family were powerful merchants who patronized

artists like Ghiberti, Donatello, Botticelli and Leonardo.
This chapel was to contain the tombs of Giuliano and younger
Lorenzo de Medici.
 Laurenitan library,Florence 1524 by
Michaelangelo
The free form of the Triple staircase of
the entrance hall for enhancing the
facade of the ante-room to the library.
Once again are seen cantilevered double
columns on consoles, defying the rule
book.
Mannerism 5(c)
Laurenitan library,Florence 1524 by Michaelangelo
Triple staircase of the entrance hall.

Impatience with the rule ,sculptured quality, vivid,

intense, dramatic, exploited stucco work to
maximum, ornamental treatment are all seen in the
design of this ante-room to the Laurentian library.
The entrance vestibule to the library, the strange
staircase without balustrades provided for the outer
flights, the blank windows of the façade,
cantilevered double columns on consoles, all are a
departure from the usual design norms.

Mannerism 6(a)
Palace on the North Side of the Capitol
(Centre of Roman Political Life),

Michelangelo-Introduction.

Michelangelo always considered

himself to be a sculptor and this is
reflected in his buildings.
Trained as a painter he was first spotted
by the Medici family.
He spent the last 30 years of his life in
Rome where his most important works
were the Capitoline buildings, the
theatrical Porta Pia, the church of
S.maria degli Angeli and the
continuation of St Peter’s.
The transformation of the plateau of
Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline
hill, for Pope Paul III was one of the
most brilliant town-planning schemes.
His spatial manipulation of voids and
masses, his novel piazza design are
widely influential in the future designs.
Palazzo del Te Mantua, Guilio Romano
After Raphael, Peruzzi and Sangallo,
another major architect of Palaces and
Villas was Guilio Romano (1499-1546).
He was a true Roman and the first
leading artist to have been born in the
city of Rome for centuries. His subtle
style and refinement had him working
for a circle of Connoisseurs. His style
was High Renaissance with a touch of
Mannerism
The Palazzo Del Te is an
experiment in Classism. This
example is a departure from
High Renaissance harmony and
symmetry. All the facades were
given different architectural
treatment. The facades facing
the courtyard too were
articulated with aggressive
rustication. Vivid artistry governs
the stuccoed and frescoed
Mannerism interiors.
 Characteristics of Baroque Style
Very soon, Mannerism
led to Baroque where
architecture was made
part of scheme and very
soon Art, Sculpture and
Architecture co-existed.

In Baroque style,
interiors grew bolder,
impressive and more
ornate than
mannerism.

Color and texture was

used widely and light
effects were used to
manipulate color.

Concave- convex surfaces were created, light was made to fall on these surfaces with the desire to
highlight them, thus creating splendid effects in the interior.

Paneling, painting, orders in clusters, craftwork were all creatively and freely used to create very
ornate interiors.
 Villa Giulia 1550 by Vignola

Giacomo da Vignola (1507-73)

His first major commission was

the Villa Guilia begun in 1551.
It was the country retreat of Pope
Julius III on the edge of Rome
during troubled times.
A model of serenity with its calm,
ordered Front façade backed by a
hemi-spherical wing with
Colonnades.
This court is terminated by an
open loggia which looks into the
second semicircular courtyard at
the rear flanked by a long
succession of terraces, staircases
and walled gardens.

With assistance from various artists like Michelangelo, Ammanati, Vasari, Vignola blended
buildings, gardens, terraces, fountains, staircases and sculpture into a paradise where Julius
would dine out of doors in pompous luxury.
6(b)
Mannerism and Baroque
Villa Giulia 1550 by Vignola
 Palazzo Farnese Caprarola by Giacomo da Vignola (1551-1573)

Italian High Renaissance 3(e)

This Villa was for Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese as an escape from the public
ceremonies.

It was half a palace and half a castle. The

plan of the Palazzo is pentagonal, 46 m to
each face.

The building encloses a circular courtyard

ringed with Colonnades giving access to the
principal rooms.

All the rooms were richly frescoed.

A vast flight of external staircases and ramps

lead up to the building creating a dramatic
effect.

The formal gardens are dynamically laid out.

They lead into a secret garden which can
only be reached through a wood.
View of Palazzo Farnese Caprarola by Giacomo da Vignola
The Great church of
Il Gesu 1568 by Vignola

Cardinal Alessandro Farnese

was the patron this Jesuit
Church.

It’s design was imitated by

Jesuits throughout the world in
the coming years.

A basilican elevation complete

with linking scrolls of
Santa Maria Novella

Mannerism and Baroque

6(c)
 Il Gizu church by Vignola
The church has one Nave with Chapels along
the sides.

This was done because the Jesuits needed a

preaching hall from where everyone had a clear
view of the Altar.

Vignola, therefore, opted for the broad tunnel-

vaulted Nave devised by Alberti at Saint Andrea
Mantua.

The light flooding from the Dome is a Baroque

device.
Originally, the interiors were plain
grey and white with a stuccoed
white vault, in accordance with
austere artistic ideals of the
Jesuits.
However, later the interior was
overlaid with rich Baroque frescoes
and coloured marbling.
 Saint Peter’s Rome (Baroque style)
Bramante to Bernini
The project for rebuilding Old St. Peter’s was monumentally daring. St. Peter’s was the
greatest church in Christendom of the 16th century, especially since Haggia Sophia had now
become a mosque.
In 1506, Bramante won the competition and decided to build a centrally planned scheme. A
Greek- cross plan with each arm terminating in an apse with a gigantic central dome like the
Pantheon on a colonnaded drum over the crossing was conceptualized. Four additional
corner chapels added to the plans complexity. On Bramante’s demise the great crossing
piers as well as the coffered arches supporting the dome were completed. The present
dome still rests on Bramante’s piers even though the rest of the design was remodeled.
In 1513, the inadequate provision for a large
congregation in a Greek cross plan led to proposals to
modify Bramante’s design. Schemes were submitted by
Raphael and Peruzzi to make it Latin –Cross. However
funds were low, work was delayed and architects were
changed. Sangallo’s designs using orders on a small
scale repetitively for ornament failed to convey the
feeling of grandeur and scale that was desired.

In 1546 it was felt that the only architect who could

think on Bramante’s heroic scale was Michaelangelo.
Various stages of development of St.Peter Rome

Bramante’s original
greek cross plan
Michaelangelo’s plan
Raphael’s latin cross plan with a giant west
portico

By the time of Michelangelo's death in 1564, he had brought

much of St Peter’s to completion. He elevated the dome on a
drum. By 1585 the drum and the cupola were finshed on his In the mid-17th century
designs by Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. Bernini’s
Colonnade completed the
Composition by forming a
In the first half of the 17th c. Carlo Maderna reverted back to the wide ceremonial piazza
Latin-cross plan. He pulled the nave forward and added a at the front
majestic west façade.
Mannerism and Baroque 7(d)
The St.Peter’s Rome. Started in 1505 and ended 160 years later.

Thus St Peter’s Rome lacks architectural unity.

But, all in all, the building is impressive not just in its enormity but also in its
decorative richness.
It has an air of grandeur and solemnity with Michaelangelo’s dome soaring at 140 mt.
It is bound internally by tension elements to prevent collapse.
The high altar with its fine Baldacchino designed by Bernini is placed over the
supposed tomb of St Peter. They are placed at the exact center of the dome and is thus
the focus.
Mannerism and Baroque 7(b)
 Dome of St. Peter
Rome
Michaelangelo’s
dome was raised
Over a drum,
whereas Bramante’s
Dome would have
appeared stubbud
Mannerism and Baroque 7(e)
 Colonnade by Bernini

Mannerism and Baroque 7(c)