(piano playing)
Beth Harris: So, let's talk about mannerist.
The mannerist style and how it appears
in portrait painting.
David Drogin: Okay.
Beth: So, this is by Bronzino?
David: This is a painting by Bronzino.
This is called A Portrait of a Young Man
from around 1540.
We don't know exactly who it is
and therefore it has that title and it's located
in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Beth: So, we can all go see it.
David: We can all go see it if we're in New York.
Yes, absolutely.
Beth: You know, it looks so elegant.
And so, immediately I think of mannerism.
David: Yeah, absolutely.
The elegance of the image, both in terms of
the way that it's painted and in terms of
how this young man presents himself to the things
that really stand out,
so actually maybe we should start by saying,
in general, what some trademarks of mannerisms are
and how this relates to it.
Beth: So, that elegance.
David: Okay, elegance is definitely one thing.
A kind of hyper-sophisticated elegance.
Other things that are typical of mannerism
include a very enigmatic quality, a puzzling quality.
Beth: Right. Things that don't make sense.
David: The harder a mannerist image is to understand,
the better it was to a certain extent.
Beth: Right. And they seem to almost
make things confusing on purpose.
David: Absolutely.
And then also, another important characteristic
of mannerism, and we could say this about sculpture as well,
is that the artist virtuosity becomes an integral part
of the work of arts meaning.
Some people call mannerism the stylish style.
Not only because of the subject matter and how it's presented,
but also because of the creation of the work of art
and its technical difficulty, the kind of
fireworks display of technical skill is also an important aspect.
Beth: And sometimes I think that it almost seems like
if they did things wrong, they were kind of showing off
a kind of sophistication in an odd way.
David: Absolutely, or at least making you wonder
if they did it wrong is part of what
a mannerist artist might do.
Beth: Right. I thought I remembered one artist
writing to another one, "Next time you do a
painting of the figure, put the right hand
on the left arm."
David: That wouldn't surprise me.
Beth: To do it wrong in a way, doing it wrong,
proved that you knew how to do it right.
David: Yep.
Beth: So easily that it was a kind of showing off
to do it wrong.
David: Sure, sure.
And also we should say, these characteristics,
the reason why they emerged, there's lots
of different theories people have.
In part perhaps because a new generation of artists
starting with Pontormo, but then also
Parmigiano and Bronzino.
They needed to do something different.
They felt like all of the possibilities
had been exhausted in the high Renaissance,
the works or Leonardo and Michael Angelo
and Raphael and Tischen.
Beth: Well, it does kind seem after the school
of Athens that the height of naturalism
of what the Renaissance wanted to do had been reached
and what was there for new artists to do?
David: And so a new generation of artists
turned away from the priorities of naturalism
and classicism and the overwriting logic
that we saw in the earlier 1500's.
Also, mannerism can be tied to the Medici,
both in terms of the election of a Medici Pope,
Leo X in 1513, but also the return of the Medici
to Florence in the teens and especially
in the 20's and 30's.
Beth: So, what was it about the Medici?
David: Well, when they become Popes
and when they return as Duke's of Florence, ultimately,
they cultivate a very, very sophisticated court
because they want to prove that they are peers
of the great court rulers of Europe.
So, the mannerist style develops in a way,
in partnership with these efforts of their leadership
to create a, as I said before, a hyper-sophisticated
elegant setting for their court.
Beth: So, the Medici are no longer pretending
to be allies of the republic and they're really
in a way, embracing a kind of aristocratic lifestyle.
David: Yes, certainly by the middle of the 1500's, definitely.
So, let's talk about how this image
reflects these kinds of ideas and themes.
Beth: Yeah.
David: First of all, obviously,
the way the young man is dressed, the way
that he's standing, the expression on his face
all seem to exude this very cool sophistication.
Beth: Detachment.
David: A great detachment and a hyper-articulated elegance.
All of these things are, in a way,
characteristic of both manneristic life
as it was lived and mannerist art.
We could also talk about the way that it's painted.
Bronzino is one of the masters of the oil painting
technique of the 16th century and when you're standing
in front of this painting and looking at it,
it's hard to see how it was actually painted.
You can barely see any kind of brush stroke
or any kind of surface texture.
Beth: So polished.
David: Exactly. It's as if he's transcended
the medium itself in it's creation,
which was also definitely a goal of a mannerist artist.
Beth: Right.
David: What else can we say about it in terms of mannerism?
Beth: He looks, you know, very distant,
very detached, but also in a way, very posed to me.
Like this is not a position that one would catch
one in naturally.
David: Exactly. He hasn't been caught off guard.
Beth: No, he looks like he's very much
like a model, sort of taking a pose.
David: That's true and that's an important part
both of mannerist culture as it was actually lived
and mannerist portraiture.
The idea of the pose, the conspicuous nature
of posing was actually something that people
looked upon favorably.
Beth: It's so weird because we kind of look down at it.
We think people are insincere.
David: We have a different take on it, certainly.
Beth: Right.
David: But at the time, especially in the Medici
circles of this period, obviously artificiality
was a goal of proper social behavior in elite circles.
Your identity was something that was to be performed.
You presented yourself to be seen in a certain way.
And it was understood to be a performance,
something artificial.
It was supposed to seem effortless,
but it was supposed to be clear that the real you,
whoever you were, was not something on display.
That would be gouache.
Instead, a very polished artificial, superficial
kind of performance is how you presented yourself
in these court circles and as we can see,
actually in this painting, as well.
Beth: So a kind of mask.
David: Absolutely.
Beth: And that kind of fits in here.
David: Mannerists were obsessed with masks
because of this idea that it presented
something to be seen and it was obviously
hiding something underneath.
This painting addresses those kinds of themes
in several ways.
First of all, because of his conspicuous pose,
as we can see it, and usually a portrait
is to present someone's physical appearance
and identity, but the way he's looking at us,
it's almost as if he's saying,
Beth: "Who I am." Right.
David: Which is very, very typically mannerist.
Beth: He also seems to be condescending to us,
in a way.
David: Perfectly, absolutely.
So, there's all of that just in the way
that he presents himself, it's typically mannerist,
but to return to the idea of the mask,
there are several masks or references
to masks in the painting.
Some people say that his hard, kind of,
porcelain like skin makes his face look like a mask.
Beth: Yeah.
David: Especially because his eyes
don't look in the same direction.
Beth: And also the way that the light, sort of,
falls on his face.
David: Yep, it is very, very mask like,
but then we can also look at the face
that's like a mask at the edge of the table
facing out towards the viewer
and there's another one on the arm of the chair
in the lower right and then if you look very carefully,
at the very bottom of the painting, the folds
in the fabric of his pants leg,
form two eyes and a nose and another mask,
therefore in the painting
and this idea of things being hidden
and you have to search for the meaning
and suddenly discover things that you hadn't.
Beth: And things not making sense.
David: And things not making sense.
All of these are important
characteristics of mannerism.
Beth: And we can talk about the book in that case, right?
Because normally what would be in a portrait
would help to tell us something about the sitter.
David: Right.
Beth: And in this case we kind of don't have anything
except those masks.
David: Here we see a book, but it's closed.
It's not open for us to read and understand.
Just like how we are presented with a man,
but he too, because of the way he looks at us
and is painted as closed off to us.
Beth: And remains an enigma.
David: Like the window or door in the back
that's also hidden from view in a way
like the book is closed.
Let's look at our other image as well.
Beth: Okay.
David: This is Bronzino's portrait of Lodovico Capponi.
Approximately the same date and also here in New York City.
This is at the Frick Collection.
Beth: His fingers, those elongated boneless fingers
are also very typical of mannerism.
David: It's very similar to the last painting
we looked at and to mannerism in general
with it's refined elegance and the rather
elongated forms, the face, the cool polish,
and the sort of firm skin that we expect to see.
Here, he's not quite as aloof looking
as the last image, but still there's that sense
that he's posing for us.
He's presenting himself to be seen
in a particular way and we're never going to know
who the real person underneath is.
So, again, a kind of virtuosic painting,
but also very good demonstration of how
you were supposed to behave in upper class society.
Just like in the last painting we had
a book that was closed, so we were presented
with something that we expect to understand,
but are prevented from seeing into it.
Here too, we have the same thing.
Beth: He's holding.
... a cameo and usually when a man is painted
in a portrait with a cameo, we see who it is
because it's his lover ...
Beth: Yeah, right.
David: ... or some family member.
Beth: Right.
David: And here he holds it.
We expect to see it and understand it,
but he also covers her face with his finger.
Beth: Yeah. It's so fascinating how mannerism
evolves a style that's so different from the goals,
the naturalistic goals of the Renaissance.
David: Yeah and when you think about
mannerist portraits like these, in your head
you can compare it to something like the Mona Lisa,
where she's not obviously posing
and Leonardo's effort in a painting like that
is seemingly more honest and open and she's engaging
with you in a kind of expressive way.
Beth: Right.
David: Whereas in these mannerist portraits,
these two, as well as many others,
you are presented with someone, but at the very same time
you are precluded from understanding who they are.
Beth: Yep. Do you think that this has anything
to do with the reformation that's beginning
to happen, or not yet?
David: I would say it's too early for that.
David: I think it has to do more with court life
especially because these are
such secular images.
Beth: That's true.
(piano playing)