Giulio Romano

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Giulio Romano (c.1499–1546). Italian architect, he was one of the major figures of the late Renaissance. Called Giulio Pippi or Giuliano Giannuzzi, he was born in Rome, became the pupil of Raphael, and trained amidst the High Renaissance reverence for Classical antiquities. He completed Raphael's Villa Lante al Gianicolo, Rome (1523), and designed the Palazzo Maccarani, Piazza Sant'Eustachio, Rome (c.1520–4), where his originality was demonstrated in the ambiguous capital-less pilasters and the windows that rest uneasily on a string-course. His bending of the rules of Classical propriety led him to extremes, and he became one of the most interesting Mannerist architects, especially after he settled in Mantua (1524), where he worked for Prince (later Duke Federigo II) Gonzaga (1519–40).

His extraordinary Palazzo del Tè (1525–32), Mantua, one of the first Mannerist buildings, is a single-storey building around a courtyard. The vestibule of the main entrance mixes elements from the Basilica of Maxentius, Rome, and a plan taken from Giocondo's edition of Vitruvius (1511). In the courtyard finely finished ashlar is contrasted with deliberately ‘unfinished’ work, and on two elevations some of the triglyphs are designed to appear to ‘drop’ from the entablature, giving a feeling of instability, probably suggested to the architect by Roman ruins in which the frieze had broken up: such a ruin (the Basilica Aemilia in the Forum Romanum) had been drawn by Sangallo. The garden-front is composed of overlaid serlianas and the garden itself is enclosed, terminating in a semicircular pilastered colonnade. The plan is a clever mixture of an Antique villa and Raphael's Villa Madama (itself influenced by Roman thermae).

As a result of his success with the Palazzo del Tè, Giulio was ennobled and presented with a house in Mantua, on the façade of which (1538–44) he reworked the themes of the House of Raphael (Palazzo Caprini) by Bramante. His Cortile della Mostra (or Cavallerizza) in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua (1538–9), employs tortured, engaged, irregular spiral columns on pedestals carried on chunky rusticated consoles, while the rusticated façades have arches that are not quite semicircles, nor are they segments of circles. It is a distortion of themes from Bramante's House of Raphael and the Colosseum, with allusions to the Solomonic columns in San Pietro, Rome. Such preoccupations with Antiquity and with the gravitas of the great Bramante suggest that, far from acting with a disregard for Classicism, as some have sug-gested, Giulio was scholarly and witty, drawing on many sources to give his buildings authority.

He prepared designs for the market-square in Vicenza from 1542: the Palazzo Thiene, Vicenza, with its overt quotations from Ancient Rome, may owe more to him than to Palladio, who completed it. He restored the Abbey of San Benedetto al Polirone, near Mantua (1540–6), and remodelled the Cathedral, Mantua (1544–6), with double aisles incorporating massive Corinthian columns. The Residenz (Seat of the Court), Landshut, Bavaria (begun 1536), was influenced by his architecture, but was not by him. He was also a famous painter: his frescoes in the Vatican (Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo of 1514–17) and at Mantua helped to make him celebrated in his lifetime.

Bibliography

Ferrari & and Belluzzi (1992);
C.Fr et al. (1989);
Giulio Romano (1991);
Hartt (1958);
Heydenreich (1996);
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, xxx/4 (Dec. 1974), 267–93;
T. Kaufmann (1995);
Lotz (1977)
Pettena (ed.) (1981)
Verheyen (1977)

Giulio Romano ( Giulio Pippi) (b Rome, ?1499; d Mantua, 1 Nov. 1546). Italian painter, architect, and designer. He was the only major Renaissance artist who was a native of Rome, but he was active mainly in Mantua. In his youth he was Raphael's chief pupil and assistant (although exactly what part he played in his workshop is uncertain) and later one of the outstanding figures of Mannerist art and architecture. It is not known when Giulio began working for Raphael, but it was probably in about 1515, when he was still very young; after the master's death in 1520 he became his main artistic executor, completing a number of his unfinished works, including the decorations of the Villa Madama. His independent works of this time include the Holy Family (c.1522) in S. Maria dell'Anima, Rome, and the design of some pornographic prints that caused such a scandal that their engraver Marcantonio Raimondi was imprisoned (their notoriety was sustained by the sonnets that the poet Pietro Aretino wrote inspired by them soon after their publication). Giulio had moved to Mantua in 1524 and escaped Raimondi's fate. He remained there for the rest of his life and dominated the artistic affairs of the Gonzaga court.

The great monument to Giulio's genius is the Palazzo del Tè, begun in 1526 for Federico Gonzaga. This was one of the first Mannerist buildings, deliberately flouting the canons of classical architecture as exemplified by Bramante in order to shock or surprise the spectator. The same tendency is shown in Giulio's fresco decoration in the palace, especially in the Sala dei Giganti, where the whole room is painted from floor to ceiling to give an overall illusionistic effect, and the spectator feels overwhelmed by the rocks and thunderbolts hurled down on the rebellious Titans who attempted to storm Olympus. Giulio painted several other frescos in the Palazzo del Tè and in the Sala di Troia of the Ducal Palace at Mantua that testify to his classical learning and exuberant invention. His muscular style owed much to Michelangelo as well as to Raphael, but was less daunting than that of either and proved widely influential. Indeed, he became one of the most famous painters of his day and has the distinction of being the only modern artist mentioned by Shakespeare; he called him ‘that rare Italian master Julio Romano’, but mistakenly imagined him a sculptor (The Winter's Tale, v. ii). Among Giulio's other architectural works, the most important is his own house in Mantua (1544–6).

Giulio Romano (1499?–1546). Italian painter, architect, and designer, born in Rome (he was the only major Renaissance artist who was a native of the city) and active mainly in Mantua. In his youth he was Raphael's chief pupil and assistant (although exactly what part he played in his workshop is uncertain) and later one of the outstanding figures of Mannerist art and architecture. It is not known when Giulio began working for Raphael, but it was probably in about 1515, when he was still very young; after the master's death in 1520 he became his main artistic executor, completing a number of his unfinished works, including the decorations of the Villa Madama. His independent works of this time include the Holy Family (c.1522) in S. Maria dell'Anima, Rome, and the design of some pornographic prints that caused such a scandal that their engraver Marcantonio Raimondi was imprisoned (their notoriety was sustained by the sonnets that the poet Pietro Aretino wrote inspired by them soon after their publication). Giulio had moved to Mantua in 1524 and escaped Raimondi's fate. He remained there for the rest of his life and dominated the artistic affairs of the Gonzaga court. The great monument to his genius is the Palazzo del Tè, begun in 1526 for Federico Gonzaga. This was one of the first Mannerist buildings, deliberately flouting the canons of classical architecture as exemplified by Bramante in order to shock or surprise the spectator. The same tendency is continued in Giulio's fresco decoration in the palace, especially in the Sala dei Giganti, where the whole room is painted from floor to ceiling to give an overall illusionistic effect, and the spectator feels overwhelmed by the rocks and thunderbolts hurled down on the rebellious Titans who attempted to storm Olympus. Giulio painted several other frescos in the Palazzo del Tè and in the Sala di Troia of the Ducal Palace at Mantua that testify to his classical learning and exuberant invention. His muscular style owed much to Michelangelo as well as to Raphael, but was less daunting than that of either and proved widely influential. Indeed, he became one of the most famous painters of his day and has the distinction of being the only modern artist mentioned by Shakespeare; he called him ‘that rare Italian master Julio Romano’, but mistakenly imagined him a sculptor (The Winter's Tale, v. ii).

Giulio Romano , c.1492–1546, Italian painter, architect, and decorator, whose real name was Giulio Pippi. He was the favorite pupil of Raphael and while still a youth was entrusted with the painting of most of the frescoes in the loggias (from designs by Raphael) and a group of figures in the Stanza of the Incendio di Borgo in the Vatican and also, together with Gianfrancesco Penni, with the decoration of the ceiling of the Villa Farnesina, all in Rome. After the death of Raphael, he completed the frescoes of the life of Constantine in the Vatican as well as Raphael's Coronation of the Virgin and Transfiguration (both: Vatican Gall.). Forced to flee Rome in 1524 for having designed pornographic prints, he entered the service of the duke of Mantua, for whom he executed paintings and architectural and engineering projects. He reconstructed the cathedral, established a school of art, and designed the nearby Church of San Benedetto. He was the architect of the ducal palace and rebuilt the Palazzo del Te, decorating both of them with celebrated illusionistic and somewhat melodramatic frescoes. In 1546 he was appointed architect to St. Peter's, but he died in the same year. Well-known oils include The Stoning of St. Stephen (Church of Santo Stefano, Genoa) and Adoration of the Kings (Louvre). Romano was one of the creators of mannerism.

Giulio Romano (c.1492–1546) Italian painter and architect, b. Giulio Pippi. One of the founders of mannerism, he was the chief assistant to Raphael in his youth. His later work was considered pornographic, and he had to flee from Rome to Mantua where, in 1526, he began his famous Palazzo del Tè.

Giulio Romano see Giulio Romano .

Romano, Giulio. See Giulio Romano.