Mannerism emerged from the later years of the Italian High
Renaissance, and is notable for its sophisticated and artificial qualities.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Contrast the painting of High Mannerism with its earlier, anti-classical phase.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
Mannerist painting encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the
harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism associated with High
Renaissance artists.Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial
(as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.
Mannerism developed in both Florence and Rome, from around 1520 until about 1580. The early
Mannerist painters are notable for elongated forms, precariously balanced poses, a
collapsedperspective, irrational settings, and theatrical lighting.
The second period of Mannerist painting, called "Maniera Greca," is differentiated from the
earlier "anti-classical" phase. High mannerists stressed intellectual conceits and artistic
virtuosity, features that have led later critics to accuse them of working in an unnatural and
affected "manner".
TERMS [ edit ]
Sack of Rome
(May 6th, 1527) A military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor in Rome.
Mannerism
A style of art developed at the end of the High Renaissance, characterized by the deliberate
distortion and exaggeration of perspective, especially the elongation of figures.
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Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art
that emerged from the later years of the
Italian High Renaissance. It began around
1520 and lasted until about 1580 in Italy,
when a more Baroquestyle began to
replace it. Stylistically, Mannerist painting
encompasses a variety of approaches
influenced by, and reacting to, the
harmonious ideals and restrained
naturalism associated with artists such as
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Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Mannerism is notable for its intellectual
sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.
Mannerist painting
Mannerism developed in both Florence and Rome. The early Mannerist painters in Florence
—especially Jacopo da Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino, both students of Andrea del Sarto—
are notable for elongated forms, precariously balanced poses, a collapsed perspective,
irrational settings, and theatrical lighting. Parmigianino (a student of Correggio) and Giulio
Romano (Raphael's head assistant) were moving in similarly stylizedaesthetic directions in
Rome. These artists had matured under the influence of the High Renaissance, and their style
has been characterized as a reaction or exaggerated extension of it .
Madonna with the Long Neck
In Parmigianino's Madonna with the Long Neck (1534­40), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated
proportions, highly stylized poses, and lack of clear perspective.
In other words, instead of studying nature directly, younger artists began
studying Hellenistic sculptures and paintings of masters past. Therefore, this style is often
identified as "anti-classical," yet at the time it was considered a natural progression from the
High Renaissance. The earliest experimental phase of Mannerism, known for its "anticlassical" forms, lasted until about 1540 or 1550. This period has been described as both a
natural extension of the art of Andrea del Sarto, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as well as a
decline of those same artists' classicizing achievements. In past analyses, it has been noted
that Mannerism arose in the early 16th century alongside a number of other social, scientific,
religious and political movements such as the Copernican model, the Sack of Rome, and the
Protestant Reformation's increasing challenge to the power of the Catholic Church. Because
of this, the style's elongated forms and distorted forms were once interpreted as a reaction to
the idealized compositions prevalent in High Renaissance art.
This explanation for the radical stylistic shift in 1520 has fallen out of scholarly favor, though
the early Mannerists are still set in stark contrast to High Renaissance conventions; the
immediacy and balance achieved by Raphael's School of Athens no longer seemed interesting
to young artists. Indeed, Michelangelo himself displayed tendencies towards Mannerism,
notably in his vestibule to the Laurentian Library, in the figures on his Medici tombs, and
above all the Sistine Chapel .
The Libyan Sibyl from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling
Michelangelo himself displayed tendencies towards Mannerism, notably in the Sistine Chapel.
Maniera Greca
The second period of Mannerist painting, called "Maniera Greca," or High Mannerism, is
commonly differentiated from the earlier, so-called "anti-classical" phase. Influenced by
earlierByzantine art, High Mannerists stressed intellectual conceits and artistic virtuosity,
features that have led later critics to accuse them of working in an unnatural and affected
"manner" (maniera). Maniera artists held their elder contemporary Michelangelo as their
prime example; theirs was an art imitating art, rather than an art imitating nature. Maniera
art combines exaggerated elegance with exquisite attention to surface and detail: porcelainskinned figures recline in an even, tempered light, regarding the viewer with a cool glance, if
at all. The Maniera subject rarely displays an excess of emotion, and for this reason is often
interpreted as "cold" or "aloof. "
A number of the earliest Mannerist artists who had been working in Rome during the 1520s
fled the city after the Sack of Rome in 1527. As they spread out across the continent in search
of employment, their style was distributed throughout Italy and Europe. The result was the
first international artistic style since the Gothic style (including French, English, and Dutch
Mannerism styles, ). The style waned in Italy after 1580, as a new generation of artists,
including the Carracci brothers, Caravaggio and Cigoli, reemphasized naturalism. Walter
Friedlaender identified this period as "anti-mannerism," just as the early mannerists were
"anti-classical" in their reaction to the High Renaissance.
Joachim Wtewael's Perseus and Andromeda, 1616,
An example of seventeenth­century Dutch mannerism.