Mannerism was an art style that focused on the human form, depicted in intricate poses and in exaggerated, not always realistic settings. The term Mannerism was derived from the Italian word maniera, translated as “style.? It developed in Florence and Rome between 1520 and 1600, as a style that rejected the balance of the Renaissance period in favor of a more emotional and distorted point of view. This art style reflected the tension in Europe at the time of its popularity. The movement eventually gained favor in northern Italy and most of central and northern Europe.

Paintings contained artificial color and unrealistic spatial proportions. Figures were often elongated and exaggerated, positioned in imaginative and complex poses. Works of the movement are often unsettling and strange, probably a result of the time period’s upheaval from the Reformation, the plague, and the sack of Rome. In 1600, Mannerists were accused of disrupting the unity of Renaissance classicism. However, in retrospect, the Mannerist movement supplied the link between Renaissance perfection and the emotional Baroque art that later developed in the 17th century.

Artists: (biography & artworks) Related Paintings Reproductions

Aachen, Hans von - 1552 - 1615
Abate, Nicolo dell - 1509 - 1571
Allori, Alessandro - 1535 - 1607
Ammanati, Bartolomeo - 1511 - 1592
Bacchiacca, - 1494 - 1557
Bassano, Jacopo - 1510 - 1592
Beccafumi, Domenico - 1486 - 1551
Becerra, Gaspar - 1520 - 1568
Bloemaert, Abraham - 1566 - 1651
Bronzino, Agnolo - 1503 - 1572
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward - 1833 - 1898
Cambiaso, Luca - 1527 - 1585
Caron, Antoine - 1521 - 1599
Cesari, Giuseppe - 1568 - 1640
Crespi, Giovanni Battista - 1575 - 1633
Daniele da Volterra, - 1509 - 1566
Danti, Vincenzo - 1530 - 1576
Engebrechtsz., Cornelis - 1465 - 1527
Fontana, Annibale - 1540 - 1587
Franceschini, Baldassare - 1611 - 1690
Giambologna, - 1529 - 1608
Giulio Romano, - 1499 - 1546
Goujon, Jean - 1510 - 1565
Hemessen, Jan Sanders van - -
Janssen, Abraham - 1575 - 1632
Juan de Juni, - 1507 - 1577
Kempeneer, Peter de - 1503 - 1580
Lallemant, Georges - 1580 - 1636
Leoni, Leone - 1509 - 1590
Lomazzo, Giovanni Paolo - 1538 - 1600
Magnasco, Alessandro - 1667 - 1749
Morales, Luis de - 1520 - 1586
Moroni, Giovanni Battista - 1520 - 1578
Naldini, Giovanni Battista - 1537 - 1591
Palma Giovane, - 1548 - 1628
Perino del Vaga, - 1500 - 1547
Pilon, Germain - 1525 - 1590
Polidoro da Caravaggio, - 1497 - 1543
Pontormo, - 1494 - 1557
Pordenone, - 1484 - 1539
Primaticcio, Francesco - 1504 - 1570
Rosso Fiorentino, - 1495 - 1540
Salviati, Francesco - 1510 - 1563
Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo - 1480 - 1548
Sebastiano del Piombo, - 1485 - 1547
Susini, Antonio - 1572 - 1624
Tibaldi, Pellegrino - 1527 - 1596
Tintoretto, Jacopo - 1519 - 1594
Tristan de Escamilla, Luis - 1585 - 1624
Vasari, Giorgio - 1511 - 1574
Vinckboons, David - 1576 - 1632
Vos, Maarten de - 1532 - 1603
Zuccaro, Taddeo - 1529 - 1566