mannerism

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Mannerism. Term used in the study of the visual arts (and by transference in the study of literature and music) with a confusing variety of critical and historical meanings. Even more than with most stylistic labels, there is little agreement amongst scholars as to its delimitations, and John Shearman begins his book on the subject (Mannerism, 1967) with the frank admission: ‘This book will have at least one feature in common with all those already published on Mannerism; it will appear to describe something quite different from what all the rest describe.’

The word derives from the Italian maniera, meaning ‘style’ or ‘stylishness’, and it was popularized mainly by the writings of Vasari, who used it as a term of praise, signifying qualities of grace, poise, facility, and sophistication—characteristics that are indeed apparent in much of the art that he admired from his own time—the mid-16th century. From the 17th century, however, most critics thought that Italian art of Vasari's period marked a decline from the peaks of grandeur and harmony reached during the High Renaissance. Faced with such unsurpassable models as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, their unfortunate successors were deemed to have been reduced to artistic inbreeding, feebly plagiarizing and distorting the work of the masters. From being a stylistic label the term expanded its meaning to become a period designation, so that ‘Mannerism’ came to indicate the era in Italian art between the High Renaissance and the Baroque—that is, from about 1520 to about 1600. The term is still applied mainly to Italian art and architecture, but it is also used of art in other countries.

It was not until the 20th century—and particularly the period between the two world wars—that a more sympathetic attitude towards Mannerist art emerged, and the word began to be used neutrally, without the implication of decadence that it had long carried. At this time, after the revolutionary achievements of early 20th-century art, Mannerist art was looked at with new eyes, and the work of artists who had long been ignored or disparaged began to seem exciting and original to modern taste. The qualities associated with Mannerist art include tension, emotionalism, elongation of the human figure, strained poses, unusual or bizarre effects of scale, lighting, or perspective, and vivid—sometimes harsh or lurid—colours. Often the subject is approached in an unconventional way, with the artist drawing attention to his own learning or virtuosity. In the hands of the greatest Mannerist artists (for example Pontormo or Parmigianino) such preoccupations led to works that are not only highly sophisticated, but also powerful, disturbing, and moving. The work of less accomplished Mannerists (for example Vasari as a painter) often degenerated, however, into insipid or frenzied gesturing and grimacing.

With Mannerism no longer receiving blanket condemnation, more subtle issues occupied the minds of historians, for example to what extent the term could be applied to art outside Italy (e.g. El Greco in Spain, the École de Fontainebleau in France, and Hilliard in England) or to architecture (where what might be taken in one context as playful or capricious disregard for the rules of classical architecture might in another be regarded as provincial clumsiness). While some critics wish to expand the use of the term, others wish to contract it, and still others seek to distinguish what they regard as the central elements of the style within the general period label by using the term ‘maniera’. The following sentence from S. J. Freedberg's book Painting in Italy: 1500–1600 (1971) in the Pelican History of Art series shows how potentially bewildering the terminology can be: ‘The first generation of Mannerism, its inventors, thus could achieve maniera, but this requires to be distinguished not only chronologically but in degree and in some respects of kind from the “high Maniera” or Maniera proper.’ Thus while the term ‘Mannerism’ can generally be taken to imply an elegant, refined, artificial, self-conscious, and courtly style, the shade of meaning to be attached to it varies very much according to the context and the outlook of the writer using it.

Mannerism Term used in the study of the visual arts (and by transference in the study of literature and music) with a confusing variety of critical and historical meanings. Even more than with most stylistic labels, there is little agreement amongst scholars as to its delimitations, and John Shearman begins his book on the subject (Mannerism, 1967) with the frank admission: ‘This book will have at least one feature in common with all those already published on Mannerism; it will appear to describe something quite different from what all the rest describe.’ The word derives from the Italian maniera (‘style’ or ‘stylishness’), and it was popularized mainly by the writings of Vasari, who used it as a term of praise, signifying qualities of grace, poise, facility, and sophistication—characteristics that are indeed apparent in much of the art that he admired from his own time. From the 17th century, however, most critics thought that Italian art of Vasari's period marked a decline from the peaks of grandeur and harmony reached during the High Renaissance by Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, and the term ‘Mannerism’ came to suggest an art characterized by artificiality, superficiality, and exaggeration, feebly plagiarizing and distorting the work of the masters. From being a stylistic label the term expanded its meaning to become a period label, so that ‘Mannerism’ came to designate the era in Italian art between the High Renaissance and the Baroque—that is, from about 1520 to about 1600. The term is still applied mainly to Italian art and architecture, but it is also used of art in other countries.

It was not until the 20th century—and particularly the period between the two world wars—that a more sympathetic attitude towards Mannerist art emerged, and the word began to be used neutrally, without the implication of decadence that it had long carried. At this time, after the revolutionary achievements of early 20th-century art, Mannerist art was looked at with new eyes, and the work of artists who had long been ignored or disparaged began to seem exciting and original to modern taste. The qualities associated with Mannerist art include tension, emotionalism, elongation of the human figure, strained poses, unusual or bizarre effects of scale, lighting, or perspective, and vivid—sometimes harsh or lurid—colours. Often the subject is approached in an unconventional way, with the artist drawing attention to his learning or virtuosity. In the hands of the greatest Mannerist artists (for example Pontormo or Parmigianino) such preoccupations led to works that are not only highly sophisticated, but also powerful, disturbing, and moving. The work of less accomplished Mannerists (for example Vasari as a painter) often degenerated, however, into insipid or frenzied gesturing and grimacing.

With Mannerism no longer receiving blanket condemnation, more subtle issues occupied the minds of historians, for example to what extent the term could be applied to art outside Italy (e.g. El Greco in Spain, the School of Fontainebleau in France, and Hilliard in England) or to architecture (where what might be taken in one context as playful or capricious disregard for the rules of classical architecture might in another be regarded as provincial clumsiness). While some critics wish to expand the use of the term, others wish to contract it, and still others seek to distinguish what they regard as the central elements of the style within the general period label by using the term ‘maniera’. The following sentence from S. J. Freedberg's Painting in Italy: 1500–1600 (1971) in the Pelican History of Art series shows how potentially bewildering the terminology can be: ‘The first generation of Mannerism, its inventors, thus could achieve maniera, but this requires to be distinguished not only chronologically but in degree and in some respects of kind from the “high Maniera” or Maniera proper.’ Thus while the term ‘Mannerism’ can generally be taken to imply an elegant, refined, artificial, self-conscious, and courtly style, the shade of meaning to be attached to it varies very much according to the context and the outlook of the writer using it.

mannerism a style in art and architecture (c.1520–1600), originating in Italy as a reaction against the equilibrium of form and proportions characteristic of the High Renaissance. In Florence, Pontormo and Bronzino, and in Rome, Il Rosso, Parmigianino, and Beccafumi created elegant figures elongated and contorted into uncomfortable postures. Mannerists devised compositions in which they deliberately confused scale and spatial relationships between figures, crowding them into the picture plane. Often strange tunnellike spaces were created, as in the works of Tintoretto and El Greco. Lighting became harsh, and coloring tended to be acrimonious. The mannerists devised sophisticated and obscure allegories. Among the prominent sculptors who created sinuous and sometimes bizarre forms were Giovanni Bologna, Ammanati, and to a certain extent Cellini. The style was carried into France by Primaticcio, Il Rosso, Niccolò dell'Abbate, and Cellini. It flourished particularly at Fontainebleau and was adapted by the sculptor Goujon and the engraver Callot. In architecture the style was manifested in the use of unbalanced proportions and arbitrary arrangements of decorative features. Elements of mannerism can be found in the elegant Laurentian Library in Florence, designed (c.1525) by Michelangelo; the Massimi Palace, Rome, planned by Peruzzi; the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, built and decorated by Giulio Romano; and the Uffizi, planned by Vasari. In Spain, Berruguette was a leading exponent of mannerism. Toward the end of the 16th cent., mannerism assumed an academic formalism in the works of the Zuccaro brothers. By the end of the century it had given way to the baroque .

Bibliography: See studies by S. J. Freedburg (2 vol., 1961), F. Würtenberger (1963), and M. Haraszti-Takas (1970).

man·ner / ˈmanər/ • n. 1. a way in which a thing is done or happens: taking notes in an unobtrusive manner. ∎  a style in literature or art: a dramatic poem in the manner of Goethe. ∎  Gram. a semantic category of adverbs and adverbials that answer the question “how?”: an adverb of manner. ∎  (manner of) chiefly poetic/lit. a kind or sort of: what manner of man is he? 2. a person's outward bearing or way of behaving toward others: his arrogance and pompous manner a shy and diffident manner. 3. (manners) polite or well-bred social behavior: didn't your mother teach you any manners? ∎  social behavior or habits: Tim apologized for his son's bad manners. ∎  the way a motor vehicle handles or performs: it impressed us with its distinctly unvanlike road manners. PHRASES: all manner of many different kinds of: they accuse me of all manner of evil things. by no (or any) manner of meanssee means. in a manner of speaking in some sense; so to speak. to the manner born naturally at ease in a specified job or situation: she slipped into a more courtly role as if to the manner born. ∎  destined by birth to follow a custom or way of life. DERIVATIVES: man·ner·less adj. ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French maniere, based on Latin manuarius ‘of the hand,’ from manus ‘hand.’

Mannerism. C16 style of architecture from the period of Michelangelo identified by the employment of Classical elements in a strange or abnormal way, or out of context, such as slipping triglyphs or keystones, columns inserted in deep apertures in walls and seemingly supported on consoles, and distortion of aedicules and other features, as in Giulio Romano's buildings in Mantua or Michelangelo's work at San Lorenzo, Florence. In Northern Europe the works carried out by the School of Fontainebleau contributed to a peculiarly inventive Mannerism evolved in the Low Countries (especially in Antwerp and Flanders generally), where cartouches, grotesque decoration, herms, swags, and terms were used in abundance, and examples published in pattern-books, influencing design in Germany, the British Isles, and elsewhere.

Bibliography

Heydenreich (1996);
Jervis (1984);
Lewis & and Darley (1986);
Lotz (1977);
Mowl & and Earnshaw (1995);
Shearman (1967);
Stenvert (1990);
Jane Turner (1996);
Wüsten (1951)

man·ner·ism / ˈmanəˌrizəm/ • n. 1. a habitual gesture or way of speaking or behaving; an idiosyncrasy: learning the great man's speeches and studying his mannerisms. ∎  Psychiatry an ordinary gesture or expression that becomes abnormal through exaggeration or repetition. 2. excessive or self-conscious use of a distinctive style in art, literature, or music: he seemed deliberately to be stripping his art of mannerism. 3. (Mannerism) a style of 16th-century Italian art preceding the Baroque, characterized by unusual effects of scale, lighting, and perspective, and the use of bright, often lurid colors. It is particularly associated with the work of Pontormo, Vasari,and the later Michelangelo. DERIVATIVES: man·ner·ist n. & adj. man·ner·is·tic / ˌmanəˈristik/ adj.

manner kind, sort XII; way or mode of action; customary practice; (pl.) moral character; outward bearing XIII; (pl., † sg.) external behaviour XIV; method or style XVII. ME. manere — AN. manere, (O)F. manière :- Rom. *manuāria sb. use of fem. of L. manuārius pert. to the hand, f. manus hand (see MANUAL, -ARY).
Hence mannered, mannerism XIX, mannerist XVII. mannerly (see -LY1, -LY2) XIV.

mannerism Term generally applied to the art and architecture of Italy between the High Renaissance and the Baroque. The style is typified by Parmigiano, Pontormo and Giovanni Lanfranco. Theorists are still debating the scope of mannerism: it has been extended to include El Greco, the Fontainebleau School, and the Romanist painters of the Netherlands. The term implies a courtly, self-conscious style.

manner manners maketh man proverbial saying, mid fourteenth century; motto of William of Wykeham (1324–1404), bishop of Winchester and chancellor of England.
to the manner born naturally fitted for some position or employment; originally, as a quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

See also evil communications corrupt good manners, other times, other manners.

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