ARTH218

Mannerism in Ducal Florence

• Mannerism is the name given to the stylistic phase in the art of Europe between the High Renaissance and the Baroque, covering the period from c. 1510–20 to 1600.

• The word ‘maniera’ was first applied to the visual arts in 1550 by Giorgio Vasari. He wrote of the ‘maniera’ of Michelangelo, which deeply influenced later 16th-century art. This gave rise to the modern concept of Mannerism as a description for the style of the 16th century.

• Although 16th-century artists took the formal vocabulary of the High Renaissance as their point of departure, they used it in ways that were diametrically opposed to the harmonious ideal it originally served.

• The formal language of Mannerist art is characterized by:

§ “Anti-classicism” a deliberate breaking of rules

§ Optical suggestion of movement through the use of the figura serpentinata

§ Treatment of space that defies High Renaissance clarity

§ Focus on spiritual intensity, even at the expense of the distortion of the human figure

§ Emphasis on artifice, to the detriment of a clear reading of the subject matter