Hans Speckaert
Mannerism's journey into Haarlem is somewhat convoluted, with its origins rooted in the works of Hans Speckaert (1540 - 1577). Speckaert was a Flemish Renaissance painter who had travelled to Rome sometime after 1566 and was prominent among the small group of Flemish artists working therein. He had closely studied the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and other Renaissance artists, as well as the Mannerist painters Parmigianino and Jacopo Bertoja, resulting in a style "characterized by tall, elongated figures in highly expressive poses" as seen in his The Assumption of the Virgin and The Crucifixion of Christ.
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| The Assumption of the Virgin, c. 1570 Hans Speckaert |
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| The Crucifixion of Christ, c. 1577 Hans Speckaert |
Speckaert died in Rome in 1577 and management of his estate passed to his friend Anthonie van Santvort. Van Santfort came into possession of Speckaert's drawings shortly after upon the death of Cornelis Cort, Speckaert's former print publisher, and opened his house such that artists visiting Rome could study them. As a result of van Santfort's generosity, Speckaert's "fluid and elegant" drawing style was exposed to, and exerted significant influence on, Northern contemporaries such as Bartholemus Spranger, Hans von Aachen, and Karl van Mander.
Bartholemus Spranger
Bartholemus Spranger (1546 - 1611) was a Flemish painter and etcher who, upon completion of his landscaping apprenticeship in Antwerp, taught himself the formal idiom of Mannersim by copying engravings after Frans Floris and Parmigianino. He traveled to Paris in 1565 then onto Rome via Milan and Parma. He gained Cardinal Alessandro Farnese as a patron in 1567 and was later appointed painter at the Vatican by Pope Pius V.
Following the death of Pope Pius, Spranger was summoned to the court of Emperor Maximillin II in Vienna in 1575 and, six years later, to the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague where he gained the Emperor's favor and attained great fame and fortune.
Spranger's body of work is comprised of "mythological and allegorical pictures as well as erotically tinged scenes in the Mannerist style." His nudes were built around mannered poses, slender, elongated bodies..." and inviting smiles. Two of his works -- Venus in Vulcan's Forge and Venus and Adonis -- are shown below. Note the monumentality and expressive poses a la Speckaert.
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| Venus in Vulcan's Forge Bartholemus Spranger |
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| Venus and Adonis Bartholemus Spranger |
Spranger exerted significant influence on the younger generation of painters at the court as well as on German, Flemish, Dutch, and French art. From the early 1580s, Hendrik Goltzius, whom I will discuss later, made engravings of Spranger's paintings, further spreading his fame around Europe.
The Haarlem Mannerists
Karel van Mander (1548 - 1606), better known for his history of the Northern European painters of the 1400s and 1500s than for his own works, resided in Italy from 1573 to 1577 and, while there, met Giorgio Vasari, who by that time had completed his work on the Lives of the Italian Artists. Giorgio also operated a large art school at that time. Van Mander was impressed by the school, Vasari's book, and his Mannerist paintings.
When van Mander returned to Holland, he brought along some Spranger's drawings and they had a significant impact on Dutch art. Spranger moved to Haarlem in 1583 and founded an academy with Hendrick Goeltzius and Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
Hendrick Goeltzius (1558 - 1616), a German-born copper-engraver and publisher, learned his trade under the Dutch master Dirck Volckertszoon Coomhert and moved with him to Haarlem in 1577. At the age of 21, Goeltzius married an older widow and was able to establish an independent and successful business.
The academy founded by the three men was responsible for development of the Haarlem Mannerist style, a style characterized by "complex compositions and figures with exaggerated physiques and comparatively small heads." Another source describes the works as depicting "exaggeratedly brawny musclemen, violent drama, with fantasy and a rare richness of detail." Works from each of the founding members are shown below.
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| Icarus Hendrick Goltzius |
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| Before the Flood Karel van Mander |
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| The Fall of the Titans, 1588 - 90 Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem |
In 1585 Goltzius had gotten in touch with Spranger and developed a copper plate method suited to translating his "elegant, affected, and figure-oriented mannerism." Distribution of these works aided in the popularization of Spranger and established Haarlem as the center of Mannerism in the Dutch Republic. Goltzius' workshop and publishing house were focal points of activity for Haarlem Mannerists and his students included Jan Saenredam, Jan Muller, Jacob Matham.
Goltzius eventually traveled to Rome in 1590 and, upon his return, deserted the Spranger Mannerism for a "calmer, clearer language of forms informed by antiquity and the Italian Renaissance." The contradt can be seen in the two Hercules works below, The Great Hercules done prior to his trip to Rome and the other done on his return.
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| The Great Hercules, 1589 Hendrick Goltzius |
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| Farnese Hercules, 1592 Hendrick Goltzius |
Even though Goltzius had moved on, his student Jan Muller continued with the Mannerist tradition well into the following century.
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| Cain violently kills Abel Engraving by Jan Muller after Cor |
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| Cleopatra, c. 1598 Engraving by Jan Muller, after Adriaen de Vries |
Unconstrained by the religious considerations bounding Flemish Mannerists, Haarlem Mannerism was free to develop along the lines pursued by the artists and demanded by the patrons. First, there were multiple sources of influence, to include the court at Prague, artists returning from trips to Italy, and communications with artist communities active in Rome. Second, the Haarlem Mannerist figures seem to evolve from elegant to more "brutish" over the course of the movement's life.
In any case, the end of the Flemish and Haarlem Mannerist strains at the end of the century signals the end of the Northern Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque period.
©EverythingElse238
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