Needless to say, each stage of art prepares for the latter, and in each stage of art the strong elements of the previous stage can be found again. What is commonly referred to as the Early Renaissance, while it actually had greater freedom in matters of objectivity, contained many things that were still medieval. Similarly, although the anti-classical, or methodist, styles, were opposed to the heyday Renaissance, many of their basic things were the same, such as choosing a three-dimensional, anatomical way of dealing with the body, the desire for compact composition, and so on.
—Walter Friedrundel
Italian painting
Methodism and anti-legalism
Methodism and Anti-Legalism in Italian Painting is the work of Professor Walter Friedrundel in the United States.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the period of methodism was still considered to be a period of decline after the Heyday Renaissance, as artists uncritically imitated the techniques of the masters, especially Michelangelo's anatomically exaggerated style of figures.
Jacob Pontormo's paintings decorating the half-moon windows in different styles
In 1914, Friedrundel proposed the concept of "anti-classicism", emphasizing that the early stage of methodism had a rebellious character of deliberately denying classical aesthetics. Thus, for the first time, artists such as Rosso, Pontormo and Pamigianino were regarded as creators of methodism, their artistic qualities and significance re-evaluated, and Michelangelo's paintings in his later years were thus regarded as the main manifesto of the anti-classical aesthetics of the era.
Rosso Fiorentino, Moses Defending the Daughter of Yetero, Florence, Uffizi Gallery
Around the 1930s, the author wrote an article proposing the concept of "anti-mannerism" to describe the style of the late 16th century, pointing out that anti-mannerism was anti-methodist and presented a deep resonance with the art of the heyday Renaissance, just as anti-classicism tended to return to the Gothic currents before the heyday Renaissance.
Through a large number of works analysis, this book is the first to draw boundaries and define the characteristics of the methodist art, while explaining the negative and retrospective characteristics of anti-classicism and anti-manualism.
Pamigianino, Our Lady of the Long Neck, Florence, Pitti Palace
For example, this famous and charming painting "Our Lady of the Long Neck" shows the characteristics of methodism. The book's interpretation of the paintings and the combing of the theories are fascinating.
About the author
Walter Friedlander (1873-1966), born in Germany, trained two generations of art historians in the Department of Art History at the University of Freiburg, the University of Pennsylvania, and the New York University Academy of Fine Arts. A modern pioneer in the field of art history, he wrote a number of books throughout his life, such as Caravaggio Studies, David to Delacroix, Claude Lorrain, mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian painting Painting), etc.
Translator Introduction
Wang Anli, born in 1980 in Yichang, Hubei Province, worked at the School of Fine Arts of Shanghai Normal University. He is currently engaged in research related to art theory and art history.
Editor's recommendation
Walter Friedrundel was one of the modern pioneers of 16th-century Italian art, and this book is one of the first studies to draw boundaries and define characteristics for what is now called the periods of Methodism and Early Baroque.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, methodist art was not considered historically important. In his book, Professor Friedrundel distinguishes between the first and second stages of the Period of Methodism itself, and proposes the concept of "anti-Mannerism", studying how the Period of Methodism came to an end. To this day, our concept of methodism remains uncertain, and we are still in the midst of this discussion of art history that Professor Friedrundel has initiated with all his might, and his insights still contribute.
The academic approach used by Professor Friedrundel in this book is original, eschewing the cold, aesthetic, and abstract stylistic analysis, as well as the vague approach of finding similarities between the general trends of art and other cultural phenomena. It elegantly presents an exemplary approach to art history research.
Wonderful trial reading
In his life, Jacob da Pontormo, Vasari said of his frescoes in the Monastery of Certosa: "For Pontormo, imitating Dürer on a motif (creativity) is totally unproachable. Many painters have done this, and still do. In that case, he certainly did nothing wrong. Unfortunately, he used the entire Germanic style to facial expressions, even posture dynamics. His earliest style was extremely graceful and elegant, and he grasped them skillfully with his innate beauty, but the penetration of the Germanic style made it completely changed, or even completely eliminated. In all his works influenced by the Germanic style, only a few traces can make one recognize the nobility and elegance that had previously been subordinate to his figure. ”
As an artist, Vasari was an absolute Michelangelo-style manipulator. But as a writer, he was largely unaffiliated, and in general, there was far more goodwill than criticism. He objected to Pontormo's harsh rhetoric of imitating Dürer, and there was no doubt that it was not only his personal views expressed, but also the general views of the public. Nationalism aside, it is widely believed abroad that Pontormo took a big step and had many influences. Vasari saw with particular precision the stylistic shift in Pontormo's imitation of Dürer, which included not only a single feature, but also of various motifs—as Pontormo's teacher Andrea del Salto did, but also of certain basic things—and the latter posed a threat to the entire structure of Renaissance painting. But Vasari didn't see deeply enough. Dürer's woodblock prints and copperplate engravings were in large numbers in Florence at the time and were highly appreciated by all artists—as Vasari recorded elsewhere, but they did not lead to such a radical change in Pontormo's artistic attitude; Pontormo (but not only him) gave birth to new ways of feeling, prompting the popular young artist to follow Dürer's prints closely, because they were like something very close to his own feelings, and they could be used by him to fight against the examples of the heyday Renaissance.
——From "Methodism and Anti-Legalism in Italian Painting"
CONTENTS
Book catalog
Introduction (Donald Posner)
Preamble
Anti-classicist style
Anti-Mannerist style
Picture catalog
Citations