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 Mannerism was an art style that focused on the human form, depicted in intricate
poses and in exaggerated, not always realistic settings. The term Mannerism was
derived from the Italian word maniera, translated as “style.” Mannerism developed in
Florence and Rome between 1520 and 1600, as a style that rejected the balance of
the Renaissance period in favor of a more emotional and distorted point of view.
This art style reflected the tension in Europe at the time of its popularity.
The Mannerism Movement eventually gained favor in northern Italy and most of central and
northern Europe. Paintings contained artificial
color and unrealistic spatial proportions. Figures were often elongated and
exaggerated, positioned in imaginative and complex poses. Works of the movement
are often unsettling and strange, probably a result of the time period’s
upheaval from the Reformation, the plague, and the sack of Rome. In 1600,
Mannerists were accused of disrupting the unity of Renaissance classicism.
However, in retrospect, the Mannerist movement supplied the link between
Renaissance perfection and the emotional Baroque art that later developed in the
17th century. The sixteenth-century artist and critic Vasari, himself a mannerist, believed that excellence in painting demanded refinement, richness of invention, and virtuoso technique, criteria that emphasized the artist’s intellect. More important than his carefully recreated observation of nature was the artist’s mental conception and its elaboration. This intellectual bias was, in part, a natural consequence of the artist’s new status in society. No longer regarded as craftsmen, painters and sculptors took their place with scholars, poets, and humanists in a climate that fostered an appreciation for elegance, complexity, and even precocity.  More than any other Venetian artist,
Tintoretto (his
painting “Origin of the Milky Way“
is shown above) embraced the
emotional aspects of Mannerism. He was a huge fan of
Michelangelo, whose
influence can clearly be seen. Tintoretto is best known today for his
bold use of color and the superlative manipulation of light and shadow
in his paintings.El Greco is arguably the best-known Mannerist painter. Born on Crete, then a possession of Venice, El Greco learned his craft in the Byzantine manner. He later spent enough time in Venice itself to pick up dramatic color techniques, then synthesized all into a whole after settling in Spain. The spirited Counter-Reformation going on in El Greco's new home lent itself to his mystical and religious themes. El Greco's art style was so completely unique that it died with him, its loss unnoticed for centuries. Artists had gained technical knowledge during the Renaissance, such as the use of oil paints and perspective, which would never again be lost to a "dark" age. Another new development at this time was rudimentary archaeology. The Mannerist artists now had actual works, from antiquity, to study. No longer did they need to use their respective imagination when it came to Classical stylization. High Renaissance art was natural, graceful, balanced and harmonious but the art of Mannerism was quite different. While technically masterful, Mannerist compositions were full of clashing colors, disquieting figures with abnormally elongated limbs, emotion and bizarre themes that combined Classicism, Christianity and mythology. |