"Mannerism"

•Definition:

Mannerism is a style of European art which developed in the late Renaissance, towards the early 16th Century and is one of the most fascinating and sophisticated periods in the timeline of Western art. This highly exaggerated and ornamental style of art consists of very complicated forms and arrangements while displaying a high degree of intellect to the works of arts, Mannerism started to develop as the artists started to strive for classical paradise. This style developed from about 1520 to 1580, embraced Italy almost exclusively, although its development could be observed throughout Europe, even reaching out to art paintings at the turn of the 17th century. Defined by expressive deformation, (figurally) stretched bodies, and a conflict of realism and artificialism. Mannerism may be regarded as both post-renaissance and an anti-renaissance art movement.

•Origins of Mannerism: A Response To The High Renaissance

As already highlighted, the fundamental roots of Mannerism can be found in the ‘finished’ form mastered by such High Renaissance artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo or Raphael, whose achievements in naturalism, perspective, and proportion, could be said to have reached their peak. After them, however, it would seem that there was too much of history and also no space to experiment within those set limits. It is in this situation that the artists started to look for different ways of depicting the human body, the composition and colors in their works. Mannerists rejected such classical ideals as primary focus on order and lucidity, as they chose the expressive force and surface quality of a work of art instead of its realistic representation.

Lastly, the word 'Mannerism' is derived from the Italian term 'maniera' – which translates to 'style' or 'manner'. Mannerism was first used to signify personal style in an individual artist, but by the 17th century it had become wider and signified a major tendency. Giorgio Vasari, for instance, painter, architect and art historian from Italy, was among the first to misuse the term. He classified Mannerism as the art of graces, which was pleasing – but atractismo that which I also condemned for being away from nature.

•Properties of Mannerism:

Mannerism is characterized by a series of distinctive elements that stand in stark contrast to the naturalism and equilibrium associated with the High Renaissance. The main properties are the following: 

1. Distortion of forms and proportions:

 Male and female figures in Mannerist artwork have different typical proportions, such as long limbs and an exaggeratedly short head, or gesticulated positioning. These changes, to the most extent achieved in paintings done by Parmigianin, have decoratively elegant and rather unproportionate effects applied, which do not pursue realistic rendering.

2. Chaotic and Asymmetrical Arrangement: 

In the same way, Renaissance artists regarded harmonious composition as the ultimate goal, instead of resembling that Mannerist artists preferred asymmetrical designs and complicated configurations. Most of the times, they were placed dramatically in repeating poses with uneasy positions that looked tense and unbalanced.

3. Excessive and Overdone: 

Mannerist pieces tend to be more decorative and embellished rather than true to the subject of the work. This is visible in the many textures found in the clothing, the detailed backgrounds, and the light and shadow dramatisations.

4. More Colorful and Skewed Lighting: 

Mannerist painters were also known for their imaginative use of colour and lighting as they integrated such bright unnatural colours and peculiar high to low area light adjustment. This made their paintings to look nightmarish and fantasy-like and supported the general idea of artificiality.

5. Intellectualism and Allegorical Aspect of Art: 

The Mannerist is one of those epochs in art history which draws a lot of its energy out of the allegory. People have to think in order to appreciate the work of art. Bronzino  and Pontormo illustrated metaphysical images based on historical or literary content of philosophy/ religion/ mythology.

•Key Figures of Mannerism:

The Mannerist style includes several notable artists. Each of them submitted in their own way, which adds variations to the entire movement. 

Parmigianino (1503 - 1540) 

 Owing to His Eccentricity He is Supposed to Be Depicted as One at the Center of a Mannerist School.

Parmigianino, who was born Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola seems to be one of the first painters associated with Mannerism. His art possesses certain features like stretched outs, refined forms which-border on the supernatural. Madonna with the Long Neck (1534-1540) is one of the works that manages to encapsulate his style. The mother’s unproportionately stretched neck, and even limbs, giving a celestial appearance, while the infant, Jesus, looks oversized with no sign of life. The representation is disturbing because it does not adhere to the rules of naturalism; it portrays hold a notion of beauty that is unreal yet grotesque.

Jacopo da Pontormo (1494 – 1557)

Despite the mellow reputation, this Floretine gentleman was an extremely emotionally charged painter with dramatic figures. His temperamental and even romantic genius wildly contrasted classical norms with bright hues, dramatic gestures and over complicated arrangements. In the female Virgin and male Cherub from the Cross Deposed in 1528 when Pontormo utilized clean scary colors in the composition and deformed figures creating tension with the displaced image. It is a twisted visceral and active composition, the explosion of motion, the compressed space characteristic of Mannerism style imbues the observer with the enthralling emotional content of the scene.

Rosso Fiorentino (1494 – 1540)

Born in the same era as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino was yet another Mannerist who hailed from Florence. His works recalled an oppressive psychological space and had a much darker mood. His sculpture, The Descent from the Cross (1521), uses the same distorting elongated motifs associated with Mannerism. The painting also starkly leans towards bright shades of red which if portrayed exceptionally tangential from the expected way of religious high art, haunting.

Bronzino (1503-1572) 

Apart from being Pontormo’s pupil Bronzino, later became an influential portraitist of his time, within the Mannerist period. His pieces are distinguished by a compellingly refined and almost clinical elegance, with a careful insistence on details. A number of Bronzino’s portraits are of nobility and heavy with an emphasis on the class and rank of the characters through rich dressing. In Vase Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo with her Son (1545) the depiction of rich colors along with a lot of delicate detail creates an aura of nobility about the portrait. The figures are set composed, even a bit statuesque thereby almost reminding the viewer of the very high and dry nature of Mannerism.

El Greco (1541 – 1614) 

El Greco siblings were born in Crete but it was in Spain where the artist Domenikos Theotokopoulos blossomed into one of the ardent adherents of Mannerism. While he was painted the Most Holy Virgin of the Sign in Mount Sinai Monastery, the sources point out the usage of Byzantine painting combined with some Manneristic deformation and spiritual power. Thus, in the paintings such as The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586), on the one hand space is filled with vertically elongated figures, and on the other the stage lighting has a particular drama to it resulting to the painting almost being a visionary one. Esteemed as one of the finest painters of the late Mannerist in Spain, it was El Greco who brought about a bridge between Mannerism and Baroque.

•Mannerism applied in the Framework and Carving:

Besides painting, Mannerism was also very visible in other arts such as architecture and sculpturing. Most Mannerist buildings seemed to play with classical construction; nevertheless, the restraint of Renaissance beliefs about harmony and balance in buildings was often ignored.

Architecture: Giulio Romano and Michelangelo

As an architect and painter, Giulio Romano combined these skills with a fun approach to classical architecture. The Palazzo Te, Giulio's greatest masterpiece in Mantua, is an architectural structure that has been designed with multiple surprises like slanted columns, sky-high cornice vertical protrusions, which gives an effect of a building that is almost winging itself in. This attitude, on the man’s way to architecture, cost him the symmetry and harmony associated with Renaissance architecture, which suited the Mannerist need for distortion and trickery.

Michelangelo also made important contributions to architectural style during the Mannerist period, especially in his later works. For instance, the Laurentian Library in Florence presents a variety of stairways and other architectural components that are illogical and even confusing to some, as designed by Michelangelo. The tension opposes certain principles the viewer is faced with, columns depicted in the image seem extremely slender to bear the load that rests above them.

Sculpture: Giambologna

Giambologna (1529-1608) is considered one of the most prominent nelartoist sculptors of the Mannerist period, being distinguished by his allegorical arrangements and designs of the human figure. E.g. the Rape of the Sabine Women, (1574-1582) which he created in a circular meshed form is called, is also the Mannerist obsession with Motion and Tension. The figures engaged in a spiral relationship, were intended to cover within themselves a dramatic structure. This is because in Giambologna the work represents the Mannerist’s advocacy of emotional and energetic use of highly stylized forms.

•Distribution of Mannerism Across Europe:

Although Mannerism had its beginnings in Italy, its influence gradually spread to other regions of Europe and it was received there and modified according to local requirements. In France, it was Mannerism that molded the Fontainebleau school which consisted of artists who made pictures for the royal court. Their Arts were infused with Italian Mannerism with French increases resulting in highly decorative and filled with allegorical and mythological content compositions.

To the north, longer and more complicated figures with exaggerated poses were created by artists Hendrick Goltzius and Cornelis van Haarlem who, unlike their peers, incorporated Mannerist features into their individual styles. In England, court artist Nicholas Hilliard also used Mannerist principles in his miniature portraits and used fine but simple details to engender the height of elegance of glamour among the subjects.

•Religious and Political Context of Mannerism:

A considerable period of political and religious disturbance also occurred during the Mannerist era, which affected the artworks of that period. The Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in the year 1517, protested the supremacy of the Pope and equally instigated violence and bloodshed throughout Europe. At the same time, the Catholic Church set into motion the Counter-Reformation, which was a campaign to restore the Catholic faith and eliminate all the ills within the Church.

Mannerist style attracted attention of the church as it was able to grotesquely dramatic counter-reformist themes. The canonical church of Rome employed Artists known as Mannerists to inspire faith through art and present the message visually in strikingly emotional manner—one such example is El Greco whose Works prominent elongated form and spiritual figures encapsulated the essence of the Counter-Reformation.

•Legacy and Decline of Mannerism:

Mannerism, of which the roots can be traced to a number of discrepancies that appeared towards the end of the renaissance period, that is around the year 1520, is characterized by hyper-extended forms, pulled-out figures, hectic layouts, and excessive dramatization. A few artists such as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino and Parmigianino engaged in this approach, always wanting to go further from the serene beauty of the High Renaissance. In the Beginning though of the late 16th century, Mannerism started to ebb as critics and practiting artists wanted clarity-again, order and realism, hence the coming of the Baroque age. It is true that Mannerism in the beginning was rejected as being artificial in the negative or corrupt sense, but in appreciating the tension and grace found in some works, this was understood and embraced by subsequent generations of artists, and this became a tradition of art, a tradition of emotional and provocative exxpression of the created work.

•Conclusion:

Lamentablemente, los años Manner restorers in a number of ways were quite strained and often feared, but on the other hand the first directed present states had great referencinofa academies. Mannerism is an artistic style characterized by the use of aesthetic elements which deviate in form and content from the art works of the epoch. Mannerist artists like Pontormo, Parmigianino, or El Greco, on the other hand, try to evoke emotions and even tension by using overly dramatic shapes and distortions of the human figure, chaotic arrangement of objects, and bright unnatural colors. Such style was typical of the time, which was full of doubts and confusions, because it gave way to more breathtaking portraiture of renaissance and restrained realism of baroque theatre. The expressive and spatial-temporal structure of Mannerism made it possible for subsequent art periods to utilize this style~ s characteristics to the desire for the expression of humanity and extreme beauty even more.