Rosso Fiorentino
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| :''[[grotesque art]]'' | :''[[grotesque art]]'' | ||
| - | In art, '''grotesques''' are a decorative form of [[arabesque]]s with interlaced garlands and strange animal figures. Such designs were fashionable in ancient [[Rome]], as frescoed wall decoration, floor mosaics, etc., and were decried by [[Vitruvius]] (ca. 30 BCE), who in dismissing them as meaningless and illogical, offered quite a good description: "reeds are substituted for columns fluted appendages with curly leaves and volutes take the place of pediments, candelabra support representations of shrines, and on top of their roofs grow slender stalks and volutes with human figures senselessly seated upon them." When Nero's [[Domus Aurea]] was inadvertently rediscovered in the late fifteenth century, buried in fifteen hundred years of fill, so that the rooms had the aspect of underground [[grotto]]es, the Roman wall decorations in fresco and delicate [[stucco]] were a revelation; they were introduced by [[Raphael Sanzio]] and his team of decorative painters, who developed ''grottesche'' into a complete system of ornament in the Loggias that are part of the series of [[Raphael's Rooms]] in the [[Vatican Palace]], Rome. "The decorations astonished and charmed a generation of artists that was familiar with the grammar of the [[classical orders]] but had not guessed till then that in their private houses the Romans had often disregarded those rules and had adopted instead a more fanciful and informal style that was all lightness, elegance and grace." In these grotesque decorations a tablet or candelabrum might provide a focus; frames were extended into scrolls that formed part of the surrounding designs as a kind of scaffold, as [[Peter Ward-Jackson]] noted. Light scrolling grotesques could be ordered by confining them within the framing of a pilaster to give them more structure. [[Giovanni da Udine]] took up the theme of grotesques in decorating the [[Villa Madama]], the most influential of the new Roman villas. | ||
| - | Through [[engraving]]s the grotesque mode of surface ornament passed into the European artistic repertory of the sixteenth century, from Spain to Poland. Soon ''grottesche'' appeared in [[marquetry]] (fine woodwork), in [[maiolica]] produced above all at [[Urbino]] from the late 1520s, then in book illustration and in other decorative uses. At [[Château de Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]] [[Rosso Fiorentino]] and his team enriched the vocabulary of grotesques by combining them with the decorative form of [[strapwork]], the portrayal of leather straps in plaster or wood moldings, which forms an element in grotesques. By extension backwards in time, in modern terminology for medieval [[illuminated manuscript]]s, [[drolleries]], half-human thumbnail vignettes drawn in the margins, are also called "grotesques". | + | '''Giovanni Battista di Jacopo''' (1494-1540), known as '''Rosso Fiorentino''' (meaning "the Red Florentine" in Italian), or '''Il Rosso''', was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] [[Painting|painter]], in oil and [[fresco]], belonging to the [[Florentine school]]. |
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| + | ==Biography== | ||
| + | Born in [[Florence]] Italy with the red hair that gave him his nickname, Rosso first trained in the studio of [[Andrea del Sarto]] alongside his contemporary, [[Pontormo]]. In late 1523, Rosso moved to Rome, where he was exposed to the works of [[Michelangelo]], [[Raphael]], and other Renaissance artists, resulting in the realignment of his artistic style. | ||
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| + | Fleeing Rome after the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sacking of 1527]], Rosso eventually went to [[France]] where he secured a position at the court of [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] in 1530, remaining there until his death. Together with [[Francesco Primaticcio]], Rosso was one of the leading artists to work at the [[Chateau Fontainebleau]] as part of the "First [[School of Fontainebleau]]", spending much of his life there. Following his death in 1540 (which, according to an unsubstantiated claim by [[Giorgio Vasari|Vasari]], was a suicide), [[Francesco Primaticcio]] took charge of the artistic direction at Fontainebleau. | ||
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| + | Rosso's reputation, along those of other stylized late Renaissance Florentines, was long out of favour in comparison to other more naturalistic and graceful contemporaries, but has revived considerably in recent decades. That his masterpiece is in a small city, away from the tourist track, was a factor in this, especially before the arrival of photography. His poses are certainly contorted, and his figures often appear haggard and thin, but his work has considerable power. | ||
| - | In contemporary illustration art, the "grotesque" figures, in the ordinary conversational sense, commonly appear in the genre ''grotesque art'', also known as [[fantastic art]]. | + | ==Deposition altarpiece (Volterra)== |
| + | [[Image:Rosso Fiorentino 002.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Rosso Fiorentino. ''Deposition''. 1521. Oil on wood. 375 × 196 cm. Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra, Italy.]] | ||
| + | His masterpiece is generally considered to be the ''Deposition'' or ''[[Descent from the Cross]]'' [[altarpiece]] in the Pinacoteca Comunale di [[Volterra]] (initially painted for the Duomo). In contrast to the frozen grief of other depositions, this one appears as a hurried and complicated operation, while the figures below have simple and forceful expressions of quiet grief, with powerful expressions hinted at by hidden faces. The sky is somber. The three ladders and those carrying down Christ appear precarious. Christ himself is sallow. Contrast this frenetic, windswept scene with the equally complex, but more restrained composition on the same theme by the near contemporary Florentine Mannerist [[Pontormo]]. | ||
| - | == See also == | ||
| - | *''[[Comic Grotesque]]'' | ||
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Revision as of 22:52, 9 March 2009
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Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (1494-1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "the Red Florentine" in Italian), or Il Rosso, was an Italian Mannerist painter, in oil and fresco, belonging to the Florentine school.
Biography
Born in Florence Italy with the red hair that gave him his nickname, Rosso first trained in the studio of Andrea del Sarto alongside his contemporary, Pontormo. In late 1523, Rosso moved to Rome, where he was exposed to the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and other Renaissance artists, resulting in the realignment of his artistic style.
Fleeing Rome after the Sacking of 1527, Rosso eventually went to France where he secured a position at the court of Francis I in 1530, remaining there until his death. Together with Francesco Primaticcio, Rosso was one of the leading artists to work at the Chateau Fontainebleau as part of the "First School of Fontainebleau", spending much of his life there. Following his death in 1540 (which, according to an unsubstantiated claim by Vasari, was a suicide), Francesco Primaticcio took charge of the artistic direction at Fontainebleau.
Rosso's reputation, along those of other stylized late Renaissance Florentines, was long out of favour in comparison to other more naturalistic and graceful contemporaries, but has revived considerably in recent decades. That his masterpiece is in a small city, away from the tourist track, was a factor in this, especially before the arrival of photography. His poses are certainly contorted, and his figures often appear haggard and thin, but his work has considerable power.
Deposition altarpiece (Volterra)
His masterpiece is generally considered to be the Deposition or Descent from the Cross altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra (initially painted for the Duomo). In contrast to the frozen grief of other depositions, this one appears as a hurried and complicated operation, while the figures below have simple and forceful expressions of quiet grief, with powerful expressions hinted at by hidden faces. The sky is somber. The three ladders and those carrying down Christ appear precarious. Christ himself is sallow. Contrast this frenetic, windswept scene with the equally complex, but more restrained composition on the same theme by the near contemporary Florentine Mannerist Pontormo.
