Cinquecento Art and Architecture: Bramante to Palladio

Arquitectura del Cinquecento (Bramante y Palladio — MA)

Walls: Walls are a key element, not mere infill. They were often built in brick and lined with marble or stone slabs arranged in panels or in diamond-point (bugnato).

• Vaults: Coffered barrel vaults and domes with hemispherical (half-orange) forms were used.
• Roofs: Roman tiles were common; attic stories were often concealed by a balustrade.
• Orders: Predominantly Corinthian and Composite orders were employed.
• Openings: Openings were articulated with arches.
• Stairs: Grand staircases were described with single or dual access.
• Decoration: Decoration was continuous, featuring grotesques, medallions, and similar motifs.

Sculpture of the Cinquecento (MA)

Attention to detail gives way to a preference for simple, monumental grandeur. Reliefs tend to become shallower; three-dimensional sculpture and larger in-the-round works are preferred. Classical sculpture is closely connected to archaeological models for mythological subjects and approaches to the human ideal. In sacred contexts, compositions often pursue an ideal beauty with closed, pyramidal, static structures.

This anticipates the Cinquecento Mannerist sculpture, in which proportions are distorted and compositions are unstable. Some defining features of Mannerist sculpture include the preference for the figura serpentinata, exaggerated tension, and pronounced musculature.

Cinquecento Painting

The period represents both the culmination of the Renaissance and a time of crisis. Confusing and dramatic elements question previously accepted truths. Economic disruptions begin to affect patronage; painting increasingly turns inward, often remaining confined to very closed circles of the aristocracy.

Characteristics of Cinquecento painting include:

• Simple, clear, monumental shapes that highlight the main theme.
• Human figures subject to greater correction, with elegant and grand gestures and attitudes.
• Light and shadow studies that weaken the vigorous Quattrocento line and approach aerial perspective.
• Art becomes whimsical, imaginative, and strange: the Renaissance loses clarity and becomes tortuous and intellectually complex, reflecting evident pessimism.

Other notable features include:

• Awkward postures and exaggerated length
• Arbitrary use of color
• Treatment of unreal or ambiguous space
• Image disorder
• Complex compositions
• Irrational and theatrical lighting