Mannerism

I

Introduction

Mannerism, style in art and architecture of the 16th century, characterized by the distortion of elements such as proportion and space. In general, Mannerist artists and architects took the classical or idealized forms developed by Italian Renaissance artists of the early 16th century, but exaggerated or used these forms in unconventional ways in order to heighten tension, power, emotion, or elegance. Italian artists in Florence and Rome were the first to begin working in the Mannerist style around 1520, but Mannerism soon spread throughout Italy, France, eastern Europe, Germany, and The Netherlands. In Italy the more emotionally compelling baroque style had replaced Mannerism by 1600 (see Baroque Art and Architecture), whereas in northern Europe Mannerism continued well into the 17th century.

Mannerists typically painted figures using contorted or twisting poses and foreshortening, a technique for achieving the illusion of forms projecting into space. In many Mannerist paintings proportions appear stretched, so that figures have elongated torsos, necks, or other features, and the illusion of space is unrealistic, with sharp jumps from foreground to background rather than gradual transitions. Mannerists felt free to experiment with traditional subjects from the Bible or mythology; they might intensify the emotional drama or add literary or visual references so that even knowledgeable viewers had to work hard to decipher the meaning. In other words, Mannerism is a style that displays the skill of the artist and demands knowledge of the viewer.

The term Mannerism derives from the Italian word maniera, meaning “style” or “way of working.” Writers of the 16th century praised works for having maniera—a way of saying they were stylish. But critics also used the term in a negative sense, for works in which the artist seemed to rely too much on imagination or on conventions established by other artists, rather than on observation of nature. Until the early 20th century such negative associations led scholars to think of Mannerism as a decadent style, a decline from what they considered to be the perfection of the Renaissance(see Renaissance Art and Architecture). The reputation of Mannerism improved as critics came to appreciate its expressiveness, grace, and sophistication.

II

Historical Development

Although Mannerism emerged in the early 16th century, many of its characteristics had been present for some time in Italian art. For example, the boldness and abrupt spatial transitions of Florentine Mannerism show up in mid-15th-century relief sculpture by Italian artist Donatello, especially the carved pulpits he created for the Church of San Lorenzo (1465-1466, Florence, Italy) during the final years of his life. Foreshortening was a common practice in painting in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo used foreshortening as a visual means to give power and movement to key figures in his ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512, Vatican Palace, Rome). Michelangelo himself worked in the Mannerist style in his later works, such as the Last Judgment (1536-1541, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City). In this painting he used foreshortening with less restraint but with the same intent—to make the composition visually powerful and to exhibit his skill.

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III

Early Mannerism in Florence

The first phase of Mannerism had its center in Florence and was led by Italian painters Jacopo da Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. Florentine Mannerism is imaginative and expressive, characterized by restless movement, brilliant and sometimes clashing colors, elongated proportions, and irrational spaces. The Florentine Mannerists were influenced by Michelangelo's designs for the Medici Chapel (1519-1534, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence), in which elegant figures in unnaturally twisted poses are set within a complex architectural framework and laden with meaning.

Pontormo was a reclusive person, and many of his works have an otherworldly quality that heightens their spiritual intensity. This quality is seen in his Deposition (1525-1528, Church of Santa Felicitá, Florence), an altarpiece painted with luminous tints of pink, orange, blue-violet, and green. The lack of dark shadows in this painting, as well as the sense that the figures are weightlessly suspended in space, adds to the work’s strange beauty. The painting shows the body of Christ being taken from his mother Mary’s arms after the crucifixion; a figure standing to the right of the blue-robed Mary is Pontormo himself.

Rosso, like Pontormo, elongated his figures and exaggerated their facial expressions, but he used bolder brushstrokes and sometimes modeled the figures so that they appear sharp and angular. In his masterpiece, Descent from the Cross (1521, Pinacoteca Comunale, Volterra, Italy), Rosso treats a traditional religious theme in a nontraditional manner. Unlike Renaissance compositions of just a few years earlier, Rosso’s composition appears to move outward from the center of the canvas, to the tangle of figures that ring the cross at the center. The composition spreads across the surface of the painting with little suggestion of deep space.

IV

Roman Mannerism

Roman Mannerism shows the same love of complex compositions and references that Florentine Mannerism does, but the Roman version generally employs forms that are more classical, colors that are more harmonious, and figures that are more three-dimensional. Roman Mannerism is directly descended from the late style of Renaissance painter Raphael, especially his last altarpiece, the Transfiguration (1517-1520, Vatican Pinacoteca, Rome), and his last series of murals for the Vatican Palace (1514-1517). Many of the leading Mannerists in Rome, such as Giulio Romano and Perino del Vaga, studied and worked in Raphael's workshop and completed his projects after he died in 1520. However, influences on Roman Mannerism also came from outside the city, because commissions for art to decorate churches in Rome drew artists from all over. After Rome was sacked in 1527 by the armies of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, artists sought employment elsewhere and thus helped spread Roman Mannerism in Italy and to other countries.

Giulio Romano inherited not only many of Raphael's fresco projects, but also Raphael's lively interest in architecture. In 1524 Giulio went to Mantua, where he designed the Palazzo del Tè (1525?-1534). He showed great inventiveness in the design of this palace, creating architecture and paintings that would challenge and delight by their playful departures from classical tradition. He employed accepted classical forms—walls with pilasters (half-columns) that supported horizontal entablatures (bands of decoration), and pediments (triangular elements) over windows and doors. But rather than achieving the balanced effect expected in classical architecture, Giulio varied these forms and the rhythms created by their repetition, so that each sequence of elements is similar and yet slightly different from the others. One detail illustrates the wit in many Mannerist works: Keystones at the top of each arched window are oversized and seem to slip down, as if about to fall.

Giulio also was responsible for the paintings in many rooms of the palace, most notably in the Sala dei Giganti (Room of the Giants). His frescoes (paintings on wet plaster) on the ceiling and walls merge to create a violent battle scene between the Greek gods of Mount Olympus and the giants they defeated, in which a temple seems to collapse into the room itself. This is an excellent example of how Mannerist artists used perspective to create illusions that would both shock and amuse viewers.

Francesco Mazzola, better known as Parmigianino, was born in Parma, and trained under Renaissance painter Correggio. Parmigianino brought his graceful and elegant style to Rome in 1524, but he worked there only three years before the sack of the city caused him to flee back to Parma. His Madonna with the Long Neck (1534-1540, Uffizi, Florence) shows a sensuous Virgin Mary, whose elongated body and languid gestures reflect ideals of feminine beauty from that time. However, the painting shows glaring inconsistencies in its depiction of space: Mary, Jesus, and their attendant angels loom in the foreground, dwarfing a tiny prophet figure at lower right, and a single column in the background starts as multiple columns at its base.

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