Lecture 27: Mannerism and the Late Work of Michelangelo
the ¿ gures are agitated and angular, creating a sense of stiÀ ed movement.
The Madonna’s arms span the top, and the huge body of Christ creates an
angle across the composition. Note that Christ has a red beard; Rosso was
redheaded. This may be his way of identifying with Christ’s suffering. This
painting inÀ uenced the 19th-century French painter Delacroix.Parmigianino (1503–1540) was from Parma, but at 21, he went to Rome. Our
image is the Madonna of the Long Neck (c. 1536–1540). Parmigianino died
before he could complete the painting.
The Madonna and angel in the painting
are very tall. There is no spatial logic
in this painting, similar to Pontormo’s
Entombment (or Deposition).Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572) was
an important artist who worked
for the Medici. Our example is his
fresco Martyrdom of St. Lawrence
(c. 1565–1569). St. Lawrence was the
patron saint of this church. The space
is collapsed, with the ¿ gures pressed toward the surface of the painting.
Several poses are borrowed from Michelangelo; for example, the ¿ gure of
St. Lawrence is taken from Michelangelo’s Adam in the Creation of Adam in
the Sistine Chapel.We now turn to some of the later work of Michelangelo (1475–1564).
Michelangelo’s later Pietà (c. 1547–1555) was intended for his own tomb,
which he wanted to be in the Medici Chapel of the Florentine Cathedral. Then,
while still working on it, he tried to destroy it. He succeeded in smashing
the left arm and left leg of Christ before abandoning the work. His pupils
restored the arm, but the leg is gone. Instead of the stable pyramid used in
the early Pietà in St. Peter’s, here Michelangelo employed a tall, attenuated
group of four ¿ gures. The composition is controlled by the broken zigzag
line of Christ’s body. The cowled man at the apex, the principal support of
Christ, has been identi¿ ed either as Joseph of Arimithaea, who gave his own
tomb to Christ, or as Nicodemus, who assisted in the deposition from the
cross. It is probably Nicodemus, not only because Condivi, Michelangelo’sThis is profound Christian
art at the center of Roman
Catholic Christianity,
but it should not be
thought of as inaccessible
to the non-Christian
or nonbeliever.