FREE ESSAY ON ISSUES OF MANNERISM

ISSUES OF MANNERISM

Issues of Mannerism
The movement in painting that is now referred to as Mannerism began in Italy around 1520,
influenced artists throughout Europe, and lasted until the end of the 16th century. The
word Mannerism originates from the Italian word maniera which translates into the English
word style. The basis of Mannerism then is style; it's a period of art where the focus
was on grace and beauty. While preceding trends of Renaissance art looked to nature to
find their style, working to perfect it, Mannerists manipulated nature creating a gross
perfection of human form, idealizing forms to the point of abstraction. 
Definitions of Mannerist art as well as the reasons for its appearance as a movement are
still contested today. For a definition of mannerism to have validity, it must offer a
valid origination of the movement. Much is revealed when the reasons behind a certain
artistic expression are clear. Until the 19th century, Mannerist art was considered by
most to be perverse and capricious. It was considered simply an excessive use of a
specific manner of which contained qualities that were strange and unjustified. It was
thought that extravagance, a need for increased productivity, and a lack of artistic
knowledge led to the Mannerist style. 
In the early part of the 20th century, these generalizations were considered unfair, and
many new theories about the origins of Mannerism surfaced. Some theories suggest that
artists were displaying a conscious deviance, painting against the rules of classical
art, and rebelling against the High Renaissance and the ideal of naturalness. The
spiritual unrest of the age is often considered the root of this deviant artistic
behavior.
John Shearman points out in Mannerism that the wars of the early 16th century created a
period of economic and social disturbance creating the growth of Mannerist style. He says
most works of art are insulated in the mind of the artist even from his personal crises,
joys and tragedies (40). More reasonable, he says, are explanations of Mannerism in terms
of sociological and religious influences. There was a new development in patronage during
this period where works were commissioned for no other reason than to have a work made by
a certain artist. Many times the subject, and/or the medium were to be decided upon by
the artist. 
Rosso Fiorentino's Descent From the Cross has a profoundly disquieting, visionary style
that indicates a deep inner anxiety. There is a cold, icy feel to the painting. Spidery
forms spread across a dark sky, and the figures are agitated yet rigid. Even the drapery
appears hard, the folds look brittle and ready to crack. The light that bathes the
figures and the colors of clothing are brilliant but unreal which reinforces the bad
dream feel. Beginning with Mannerism, art begins to become more about the artist than the
subject or the person who commissioned it. The pain and distress of Fiorentino is
apparent in his work. 
In his book Mannerism and Maniera, Craig Smyth explains the belief that Mannerist style
was connected with the desire for experimentation and creating art for art's sake rather
than a spiritual crisis of the period. Smyth also believes that what is usually
considered the anti-classical style of Mannerism is based on classical style specifically
antique relief. He suggests that Mannerists connected with the idealization of classical
art. Smyth says, the classic solution kept painters feeling at one with them, not in the
opposition (27). 
Influenced by the figures of an antique relief, the figures in Pontormo's Deposition
appear to be molded out of stone; graceful linear rhythms are created by the intertwined
geometric forms. The claustrophobic staging of the figures and the way they are all
pushed up the front of the canvas closely resembles the unrealistic space of a relief.
Pontormo's forms have a sculptural solidity and cold gray flesh as if they were made of
stone. Like a battle relief where no figure has a personal identity, each of Pontormo's
figures closely resemble the next, each of their heads and consistently small and oval.
The artist was more concerned with grace, form, and details such as drapery rather than
the individualism of each character. 
In his Madonna with the Long Neck, Parmigianino pays close attention to body parts that
rarely receive much focus. Shearman says that There is no figure of speech more
characteristic of the language of Mannerism than the figura serpentinata (81). That is,
the figure and all its parts should resemble the letter S. Almost every aspect of
Parmigianino's entire work flows gracefully like the tip of a flame: the Madonna's neck,
her fingers, her enormous body, the child in her lap, and the woman that adorns her on
her left. The figura serpentinata was considered the hallmark of beauty, leading the eye
is a pleasing manner along the continuity of its variety (Summers, 269).
Classical style was interested in portraying the earthly perfection of a human being.
While Mannerists were aware of the qualities of perfection, they refined those features
to the point of abstraction. In Elizabeth Cropper's essay On Beautiful Women,
Parmigainino, Petrarchismo, and the Vernacular Style, she comments on Pietro Testa's
notes on painting. Testa took unusually clear and concise notes about the features that
render a woman beautiful: the shape of her lips, part of her hair, even the color of her
gums. The body of Parmigianino's Madonna mimics the form of the antique vase held by the
figure on the right of the Madonna. It is the shape of an ideal woman according to Testa.
The Madonna's neck is long and graceful like that of a swan, and her fingers seem to
slither across her chest like the tongue of a snake. The leg of the figure at the
Madonna's side is long, slender and smooth. Parmigianino was playing with the
characteristics of feminine beauty and the rules of art, pushing them further and
reaching new standards of beauty. Smyth also notes the Mannerist focus of feet, hands,
hair, beards, and also abundant garments deserving special care as a focus of grace. The
Madonna's drapery is plentiful, gracefully flowing around her, and covering her enormous
body from shoulder to toe. 
Shearman explains that When a Mannerist artist breaks rules he does so on the basis of
knowledge and not of ignorance (26). Many art historians including Shearman define
Mannerism as un-classical and founded on the reversal of classical relationships and
forms. In Pontormo's Deposition, all the figures are characterized by athletic twists and
turns, but the figure in the central front of the painting bends at the ribs, and holds
up Christ's body while positioned on the tips of his toes and leaning on a mound of
fabric. Both are feats impossible for the human body to achieve. Artists of the high
Renaissance strove to recreate the perfection of human form precisely but also
realistically. Pontormo's work is a mass of confusion. It is unclear at times whom
certain appendage belongs to, or if a figure possesses them at all. 
Paolo Pino, in his Dialogo della Pittura says that in all your works you should intorduce
at least one figure that is all distorted, ambiguous and difficult (Shearman, 86).
Mannerist figures appear flat yet are often twisted and contorted in many directions. By
breaking the rules, it was obvious that the artist and anyone able to identify the broken
rules knows them, and that they are educated in the finer points of art. It would perhaps
be more witty to own a work that portrayed a deviation of a rule rather than simply
offering one up to the audience. 
Mannerist artists like to exploit the strain between two and three dimensions, between
restricting flatness and poses that suggest the need of freedom and flexibility. Pontormo
not only played with the rules of his figures, but he also breaks the rules of
composition. Mannerist space is flat and ambiguous; the audience is never quite sure
where it is going, or how the figures are arranged in it. The figures appear to be
standing on a hill or incline, because the figures in the rear are lifted much higher
than those in the front, and there are no clues to how far back the space actually
extends. 
The center of the canvas is the space usually allocated for the focus of the painting
during the High Renaissance, but Pontormo leaves it empty. This leaves the composition
void of a focal point forcing the viewers eye to continually scan the image. The bodies
of the figures seem to move around the frame of the canvas, and the focus of each figure
is somewhere different in the painting. Two figures are even facing toward the back of
the painting leaving viewers unsure where their attention should be focused. 
The composition is abstracted further by the palette of colors Pontormo chose.
Compositions of the high Renaissance used, for the most part, the full range of primary
colors, almost none of which appear in this work. Mannerist color wasn't meant to be
realistic, it was for the purpose of variation, and thrill. 
Again in Fiorentino's Descent From the Cross, the multitude of figures creates a lack of
focus in the image, but the uniform light in the painting also helps to disperse focal
attention. Mannerist light tends to originate from somewhere parallel to the picture
plane reserving shadow for surfaces that recede or protrude. Containing such a small
amount of shadow, Fiorentino's scene appears to be bathed in the harsh flash of a camera
stressing each figure equally and obscuring the subject. Fiorentino's figures are a mass
of parallels and intersections describing the use of line and geometry in Mannerist
painting. Smyth says that Elongation is not central to maniera, but the principals of
angularity and of spotting the composition with angular elements are (11). The cross and
ladders add to the geometry of the painting and aid in the tangency of forms. 
Shearman explains that the title 'Mannerism' creates the illusion that it was a conscious
movement like one of the 19th or 20th centuries. Mannerism didn't have a focus, the
artists weren't working toward a common goal. The artists of Mannerism were influenced by
all that came before them: antiquity, their predecessors and artistic peers, but
Mannerists were most importantly looking toward the future and their own imaginations.
Artists were for the first time were creating art for the sake of art. The goal of art
was no longer intended completely as social or religious propaganda to be determined by
the patron. Mannerist art was influenced by imagination and based on fantasy, and it was
largely aimed at the enjoyment of an audience. 
Bibliography
Tansey, Richard G. and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Fort Worth:
Harcourt Brace, 1996.
Janson, H.W. and Anthony F. Janson. History of Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.
Fenton, James. Introduction. Les Miserables. By Victor Hugo. New York: Dewynters, 1997.
Waldman, Diane. Roy Lichtenstein. New York: Rizzoli International, 1993.
Waldman, Diane. Roy Lichtenstein. Austria: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1969.