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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 4
Lesson 8: Mannerism- Mannerism, an introduction
- Pontormo, The Entombment of Christ
- Pontormo, The Entombment of Christ
- Parmigianino, Madonna of the Long Neck
- Parmigianino, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
- Rosso Fiorentino, the Dead Christ with Angels
- Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid
- Bronzino, Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni
- Bronzino, Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni
- Bronzino and the Mannerist Portrait
- A chapel for Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence
- Sofonisba Anguissola
- Sofonisba Anguissola, Infanta Catalina Micaela with a Marmoset
- Benvenuto Cellini, Salt Cellar
- Cellini, Perseus
- Giambologna, Abduction of a Sabine Woman
- Mannerism
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Cellini, Perseus
Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, c. 1554, bronze (Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, Florence). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
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- I thought that the reason Medusa became ugly was that Poseidon and Medusa made love in Athena's temple, so Athena, not Hera, was offended and cursed Medusa...(13 votes)
- I believe you are correct on that. It wasn't Hera but Athena.(5 votes)
- What did the duke do when Cellini proved him wrong? Was he angry at being wrong, or just glad that the statue was finished?(5 votes)
- According to a college term paper I found concerning Cellini and the Duke's reaction... "We finally headed to Pisa where the Duke was currently located. He had already received news of Perseus and greeted us graciously. He, however, deemed the accomplishment far more stupendous hearing it from the mouth of Cellini. He bade Cellini to complete Perseus as soon as possible for he would pay more for it than what it was worth (Cheney 49).(7 votes)
- At, both art historians are discussing the "lost wax method" which has been covered pretty extensively by now for those of us who have been watching these videos from the "Venus of Willendorf" all the way through... 5:34
That said, there is still something that confuses me on this process. So we hear about how there are essentially two molds of CLAY and one inner layer of WAX. Also, there are rods that hold this all together etc... I understand all that, but what I am having trouble visualizing is how when you are supposed to then pour molten bronze in between the two clay layers....HOW DOES THE MOLTEN BRONZE NOT MELT THROUGH THE CLAY? I understand that the molten bronze melts away the wax, but wouldn't it also be hot enough to force through the clay?(3 votes)- The entire assembly is placed in a furnace and the wax is melted out leaving a void, the temperature is then raised to fire the clay into a ceramic shell which is able to contain the bronze. as a side note the bronze is melted in a crucible (a special container used in casting) that is also ceramic. The rods are of bronze and not wax and hold the inner and outer layers in their respective places till the bronze is poured(4 votes)
- For some reason I thought we were supposed to promounce Perseus as
Persus, like Odyssus. I gather that must be incorrect?(3 votes)- Unfortunately, yes, Per-SE-us is how the name is pronounced. But I also think that you're mispronouncing Odysseus -- you seem to be saying Od-ISS-us, but it's Od-IS-E-us, as is said in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdV39Ck9LuY I hope this helps!(4 votes)
- Would Michelangelo be impressed by this Perseus?(3 votes)
- Probably, it looks as good as Michelangelo's art!(3 votes)
- At, there is mention that now a "replica stands in place of Michelangelo's David..." 9:03
How does one go about producing a perfect replica of such a masterpiece? Is it carved from marble too? Or perhaps it is of a cheaper stone or plaster?(1 vote)- The replica is as accurate as possible, and is also hand carved from marble.(2 votes)
- is this the same Perseus as Percy Jackson or a different one. i read too many books!(0 votes)
- Percy's mom stated that Percy was named for Perseus, because Perseus was one of the only heroes to have a happy ending. They are definitely different.(2 votes)
- As to the placement of Perseus and Medusa amongst the other statuary at Palazzo della Signoria in Florence circia timestampto 6:00, I would be interested in finding out who was responsible for this placement. I contend that because the result was political, and that Duke Cosimo de Medici's job was to be politically attuned, that the Duke did it. 6:30(1 vote)
- Hello. I was told that this sculpture shows manipulation of media which is one of the features of Mannerism and I don't really understand this. Could you please explain it?(1 vote)
- Dear Sarah,
Start here: Mannerism has been characterized as embodying "over-elaborate distortion, and imbalance." Then look at the piece for evidence of "manipulation of media" (your term.) If the medium (in this case, bronze) has been manipulated in a way to evince over-elaborate distortion and/or imbalance, then it, by definition, belongs to mannerism by both definitions. I think that the video, fromto about 2:19, gives a description that meets these requirements. 2:30(1 vote)
- Would this need to be cast in one piece, or could things like the sword and Medusa's head be cast in separate pieces and then brazed or welded together?(0 votes)
- It was cast in one piece. They said it could not be done and Cellini did it.(1 vote)
Video transcript
(jazz music) - [Voiceover] So let's talk
about Mannerist sculpture. - [Voiceover] OK, when we're talking about Mannerist sculpture,
one thing to keep in mind is that it shares the
same basic characteristics as Mannerist painting that
we've already discussed. - [Voiceover] So elegance, complexity.... - [Voiceover] The more enigmatic and puzzling it is, the better. Complicated, extreme
sense of sophistication and gracefulness, and a
demonstration of the artist's skill. A great example of that
is Benvenuto Cellini's bronze sculpture of Perseus,
from about 1545 to 1554. It is located in its original location, where it was made for the
Piazza della Signoria, the Loggia just to the
right of the town hall if you're facing its entrance. - [Voiceover] So it's
an important location. - [Voiceover] It's a
very important location, and its location is a very important part of its meaning, which we'll talk about. - [Voiceover] So who commissioned this? - [Voiceover] This is for
Duke Cosimo the first. Cosimo de' Medici, who was the
first really great powerful of the Medici dukes, who
rules 16th century Florence. He comes to power in the 1530s and rules up and towards the end of the century. So the first thing we should talk about is what the subject matter is. We'll come back to it again, but generally this is a sculpture of Perseus, and Perseus is a figure from
Greek and Roman mythology. He is the hero, in a way a regular guy, who defeats the Gorgon monster Medusa. Medusa is the terrible sorceress who is so ugly and has snakes for hair that when you look at
her you turn to stone, because she's so terrible looking. This was not the way she was born, she was originally very
beautiful and seductive, but she tried to seduce
Zeus, and so Zeus's wife Hera puts this curse on her
that makes her so ugly that if anyone looks at
her they turn to stone. Athena gives him a shield that's very, very highly polished, like a mirror. The god Mercury, or Hermes, gave him his winged hat and winged
sandals that allow him to fly. So when he goes to fight Medusa he holds the shield up, she looks at her own reflection, she turns to stone, and still while he's not
looking at her he reaches out with the sword and slices her head off. He beheads her, but he quickly
puts her head in a bag, because even when she's dead
she can turn people to stone. Then he flies off to fight another monster and he pulls Medusa's head out of the bag and defeats that other beast as well. We see all of these
things in the sculpture. We'll come back to them again. - [Voiceover] So Perseus is
really blessed by the gods. - [Voiceover] He's helped by the gods. He's got the winged sandals here, he's got the winged helmet here, this of course is
Medusa's decapitated head, here is her body spurting blood. The story of this particular sculpture is that Cellini had been working in France for King Francis I, but then
he comes back to his hometown of Florence, where Cosimo
de' Medici is the duke. There are several different
versions of the story. Basically, the story is that
Cellini approaches the duke and says, "I have a great project "that you're going to want
to fund and have me make." And he shows the duke sketches and models made out of clay and wax of this figure. The duke likes the subject matter a lot, but the duke thinks of himself as an artistic connoisseur,
so he says to Cellini, "I like this idea, but
it's never going to work. "It's going to topple over. "More importantly," the duke says, "is that the bronze casting is never going "to be successful,"
because essentially the way that bronze is made is that you have an inner mold of clay,
an outer mold of clay, and what's in between
there is wax in the design of what you want your
finished sculpture to be. Then what you do is pour
in hot molten bronze, and everywhere the wax was, which floods out, the bronze then goes. After the bronze cools off,
you then break the outer mold and there, essentially,
is your bronze sculpture. When the duke looks at Cellini's designs he says "This is never going to work, "because you have so many things "sticking out in different directions, "the arms, the sword, the hands the feet, "that the bronze is not
going to flow fast enough "to all of these places
that it needs to fill. "So when you break open the mold, "you're going to find that
the cast is incomplete." So Cellini listens to these arguments and he says, essentially, to the duke, "I am such an expert, I'm such "a good sculptor, I can pull it off. "You just need to trust me." So the duke says, "OK, you can go ahead, "but I'm warning you, you're
going to humiliate yourself." So Cellini gets to work,
he prepares the mold, he prepares everything the
way it needs to be done, and he starts pouring the
molten bronze into the mold. But he quickly realizes that,
in fact, the duke was right. The bronze is not flowing fast enough to fill up the whole mold,
and so it needs to be hotter. What he does is he instructs
all of his assistants and servants to break
all of the wood furniture in his house and throw it on the fire so that the fire will burn hotter and the bronze will run
smoother and faster. So they do that, and that works, but it's still not fast enough. So they throw in some silverware and some other kinds of pewter things that he has lying around the house, because if you add that
to the bronze mixture that also makes it more liquid-y. Then they wait with baited breath for the whole thing to cool
off and they break it open, and there's the whole sculpture complete. - [Voiceover] He did it! - [Voiceover] It's a
miracle that he was able to cast it without any flaws, he claims. No missing parts like the
duke had said would happen. And then it needs to be finished off, and also once it's
installed on the pedestal it does in fact stand very
firmly without toppling over. - [Voiceover] Bronze casting had been a lost art for the
whole Middle Ages, and-- - [Voiceover] Things of
this complexity, certainly. Without thinking about
what the subject matter is, without thinking about how it
relates to its surroundings, part of the meaning of this work of art is Cellini was a great sculptor. In other words, that's
practically the subject matter, is that he was able to accomplish what was said to be impossible. And this makes it Mannerist. It is a statement of the artist's skill at taking on an artistic challenge. - [Voiceover] An amazing virtuosity. - [Voiceover] And that
virtuosity is not just in the casting, but it's
also in the finishing of this surface, which is
incredibly well polished and has a tremendous amount of detail. Of course, it's also Mannerist because of the rather lithe,
elegant, athletic, slim form that corresponds to the
dominant aesthetic of the time. But again, it's this issue
of the artist's skill that's foregrounded that makes
this in part so important. Another part of this sculpture that's so important is how
it relates to its setting. Like I said, this is in
front of the town hall in front of the Piazza della
Signoria, where at the time there were already
several other sculptures, as we can see in this photo,
which is sort of taken from the point of view of
where the Perseus is located. In other words, this seems to
be what Perseus is looking at. One of the things that stood
there is Michelangelo's David, where a replica stands
in the original location. Michelangelo's David here,
and then also this figure of Hercules that was
installed some years later. Both of these figures,
Michelangelo's David and this figure of
Hercule's by Bandinelli, were symbols of the Republic of Florence. David, who defeats the
stronger beast, Goliath, was seen as a symbol of the Republic from even the beginning of the 1400s, because he was a symbol of how the good and the weak can defeat the
strong if God is on their side. Hercules, too, in some ways
functioned in that role because Hercules was also a symbol of the Republic, the
hero who with the help of the gods is able to
defeat stronger enemies. - [Voiceover] So these are both symbols of Florence as a democracy whose power is in the hands of the
citizens of Florence. - [Voiceover] We need to
understand the Perseus figure and its commission in this location in that kind of historical context, because when we think of the Perseus standing here holding
up that head of Medusa, what, of course, does it
look like has happened here? - [Voiceover] It looks like
it's turned David to stone. It's turned this symbol
of the Republic to stone. - [Voiceover] Exactly, it looks as if especially Michelangelo's
David is looking right at Cellini's Perseus
and the head of Medusa. And there's a suggestion
that Hercules is as well, and that because they're
looking at this head of Medusa that's being held
up by the triumphant hero, that they have turned to stone. So the kind of tricky, almost humorous but very sophisticated, and
hence typically Mannerist, illusion is that the Medici
with their sculpture of Perseus have turned these figures
representing the Republic into stone and have defeated
their enemies once again. - [Voiceover] You know, it's funny, because I think we tend to
look at these sculptures as images of beautiful figures
during the Renaissance, and we forget this political
meaning behind them. - [Voiceover] Absolutely,
and we need to understand their historical context, their locations, all of this helps us
understand what they are. But in the end they are still
also very beautiful objects, and that's another way to
understand why these viewers, Hercules and David, have turned to stone. Because it was a rather common rhetoric to say that an object
could be so beautiful that it takes your breath away. It stops you in your tracks,
it petrifies the viewer. The viewer can be slain by beauty. And so maybe that's another meaning of these figures turning to stone. They're so astonished by his skill and his mastery as an artist that they are turned to stone in astonishment. (jazz music)