2. What is “Mannerism”?
The term "Mannerism" derived from the Italian word 'maniera'
Meaning style or stylishness, refers to a style of painting, sculpture and
architecture
Emerged in Rome and Florence between 1520 and 1600BC
acts as a bridge between the idealized style of Renaissance art and the
dramatic theatricality of the Baroque
All problems of representing reality in the High Renaissance had been
solved and art had reached a peak of perfection and harmony
Replaced harmony with dissonance, reason with emotion, and reality
with imagination
Looking for novelty, artists exaggerated the beauty represented by
Michelangelo and Raphael, and sought instability instead of equilibrium
Renaissance: stable triangular compositions
3. Mannerism Paintings
Two detectable strains of Mannerist painting
Early Mannerism(c.1520-35) is known for its "anti-classical", or "anti-
Renaissance" style
High Mannerism (c.1535-1580), a more intricate, inward-looking and intellectual
style, designed to appeal to more sophisticated patrons
Mannerist painting tends to be more artificial and less naturalistic than
Renaissance painting
This exaggerated idiom is typically associated with attributes such as
emotionalism, elongated human figures, strained poses, unusual effects of scale,
lighting or perspective
The influence of the renaissance style is clear in the mannerism painting with rich
colors and fine details
The name mannerism comes directly from the first known art historian Giorgio
Vasari
Giorgio Vasari himself a mannerism artist and used the Italian term man era
4. Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola
Also known as Francesco Mazzola
11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540
An Italian Mannerist painter active
in Florence, Rome, Bologna
His work is characterized by elongation of form and
includes Vision of Saint Jerome (1527) and the Madonna with
the Long Neck (1534)
Madonna of the Rose
5. A work of art done according to an acquired
style rather than depicting nature
Figures writhe and twist in unnecessary
contrapposto
Bodies are distorted
– generally elongated but sometimes
grotesquely muscular
Colors are lurid
– heightening the impression of tension
– At end of the Renaissance
– male and female costume became darker and
more rigid
It was the close of a period of internal peace
and the humanist joy of life and the start of
religious tensions between Catholics and
Protestants
Madonna with Long Neck, Parmigiano, 1534-40
6.
7. Italian artist Jacopo da Pontormo’s Deposition
(1525-1528, Church of Santa Felicitá, Florence,
Italy) shows the characteristics of the Mannerist
style. The arrangement of the figures creates a
sense of swirling movement and helps convey
the emotionally charged atmosphere while the
body of Jesus Christ is brought down from the
cross and presented to his mother Mary. The
elongated bodies and unnatural compression
of space between the figures are also typical of
Mannerism.
Deposition
9. Mannerism Sculpture
The Rape of the Sabine Women (1581-3)
Strongly influenced by Italian Renaissance sculpture as well as
the 16th century style of Mannerism, the Flemish-born artist
Giambologna was one the greatest sculptors of
the cinquecento and for two centuries after his death his
reputation ran a close second to that of Michelangelo. The court
sculptor to three successive Medici Grand Dukes, his influence
on European sculpture was immense. His marble sculpture The
Rape of the Sabine Women (1581-3) surely ranks among
the greatest sculptures of all time. It contrasts with the earlier
statue of David by Michelangelo (1501-4, Academy Gallery,
Florence) in the same way that the writhing Hellenistic
group Laocoon and His Sons(150-40 BCE) contrasts with the
serenity of Polykleitos's High Classical statueDoryphorus (440). He
remains one of the great sculptors in the history of art
10. Perseus and Medusa (1545-54)
Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence
Royal Staircase, Stucco in Apartments
of the Duchesse d'Etampes, Palace of
Fontainebleau (c.1530)
11. Mannerism Architecture
Stylishness in design could be applied to a building as well as to a
painting.
Showed extensive knowledge of Roman architectural style.
Complex, out of step style taking “liberties” with classical
architecture.
Architecture, sculpture, and walled gardens were seen as a
complex, but not necessary unified whole.
Characteristics of Mannerist Architecture
12. Villa Capra
[or Villa
Rotunda]
By Andrea
Palladio
1566-1571
“Palladian” architectural style [popular in England]
13. Entrance to the Villa
Farnese at Caprarola
By Giacomo Vignola
1560
