| From 1580 to 1630 a distinctive figural style flourished in the visual arts in central and northern Europe, one favored by artists in the employ of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (r.1576-1612). At his Bohemian Court this monarch gathered a group of artists known as the Prague School, whose art is often described as Rudolfine. The most important artist for the development and practice of the style was the Flemish-born painter Bartolomaus Spranger.;Rudolfine Mannerism in printmaking, and its rise to the height of fashion in the Low Countries during the 1580s, is the subject of this study. The dissertation begins with a survey of Italianism in Netherlandish printmaking of the preceding generations, which provided the foundation and impetus for Rudolfine Mannerism. A discussion of the evolution of the style focuses on the influence of Italian art on Spranger, especially the work of Parmigianino and Giovanni da Bologna. At the Prague Court Spranger's paintings grew ever more rarified and exquisite as their content became increasingly recondite and often erotic, befitting the Emperor's personal tastes.;The Rudolfine style crystallized in printmaking at Haarlem, where it was preferred by a group of innovative artists who freely shared ideas and imagery. Italian art and aesthetics were the ultimate authority for these artists. Often called the Haarlem Academy, this group had three principals: the aesthetician Carel Van Mander, the painter Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, and the engraver Hendrik Goltzius. When this group adopted an elegant Mannerism based on Spranger's style, Goltzius developed a virtuosic engraving technique to match it. He wielded the burin with extraordinary precision and bravura, to engrave swelling calligraphic lines that became his trademark. The mastery and style of these works made Goltzius the most famous and influential European printmaker of his day.;A chronological survey of the Haarlem prints of the 1580s and 1590s includes discussions of style, iconography, technique, social history, artists and patrons. While the imagery and content of the prints were analogous to works produced for the Emperor, the Dutch engravings were sold chiefly to the growing middle classes of northern Europe. Thus, the phenomenon of changing patronage for a consistent artistic style, as well as the northern European printmaking industry in the late Renaissance are recurrent themes of the dissertation. |
