_Issues of Mannerism _
By: Anonymous
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 abstractionDefinitions 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 _
Works Cited 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.
Word Count: 1779
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