72 Ch. 2 • The Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (c. 1495-1498).
“Julius Caeser Pont[ifex]. II,” a term that meant “high priest” in classical
Rome. Wide boulevards and spaces were forged to accommodate waves of
pilgrims descending upon the city.
Leonardo’s The Last Supper is perhaps the first example of the style of
the High Renaissance, or what is sometimes called the Grand Manner.
Mannerism (a term from the Italian word for style), which particularly
characterized the 1520s, is marked by heightened scale, exaggerated
drama, and the submersion of detail to a total emotional effect. Donato
Bramante (1444-1514), who constructed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in
the “grand manner” of the High Renaissance, designed its grand Byzantine
dome, which was completed by Michelangelo and a successor.
Painters of the High Renaissance increasingly presented large, ambi
tious, complex, and sometimes even bizarre canvases. Mannerism’s imagi
native distortions and sense of restlessness offered an unsettling vision in
tune with new uncertainties. Mannerism marked something of a reaction
against the Renaissance ideal of attaining classical perfection. Thus, some
painters ignored the rules of perspective; emotionalism, as well as mysti
cism and illusionism, won out over classicism. Toward the end of his
career, Michelangelo’s work reflected this influence. His majestic marble
Moses (1515), sculpted for the tomb of Pope Julius II, has an immensely
prominent head, with an exaggerated facial expression. It reflects
Michelangelo’s tragic vision of human limitations, including his own.
Raphael and Titian presented human figures who seem almost empowered
by divine attributes but who nonetheless retain their humanity.