The term "Mannerist" was redefined in 1967 by John Shearman following the exhibition of Mannerist paintings organised by Fritz Grossmann at Manchester City Art Gallery in 1965. "High Renaissance" connoted a period distinguished by harmony, grandeur and the revival of classical antiquity. It was used by Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt and popularized by German art historians in the early 20th century to categorize the seemingly uncategorizable art of the Italian 16th century – art that was no longer found to exhibit the harmonious and rational approaches associated with the High Renaissance. Īs a stylistic label, "Mannerism" is not easily defined. In essence, "bella maniera" utilized the best from a number of source materials, synthesizing it into something new. This notion of "bella maniera" suggests that artists who were thus inspired looked to copying and bettering their predecessors, rather than confronting nature directly. Mirollo describes how "bella maniera" poets attempted to surpass in virtuosity the sonnets of Petrarch.
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Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as "la maniera moderna", or the "modern style". In the second edition of his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1568), Giorgio Vasari used maniera in three different contexts: to discuss an artist's manner or method of working to describe a personal or group style, such as the term maniera greca to refer to the medieval Italo-Byzantine style or simply to the maniera of Michelangelo and to affirm a positive judgment of artistic quality. Like the English word "style", maniera can either indicate a specific type of style (a beautiful style, an abrasive style) or indicate an absolute that needs no qualification (someone "has style"). The word "Mannerism" derives from the Italian maniera, meaning "style" or "manner". The artists of Mannerism greatly admired this piece of sculpture. Mannerism role-model: Laocoön and His Sons, an ancient sculpture, rediscovered in 1506 now in the Vatican Museums.
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6 Characteristics of artworks created during the Mannerist period.Mannerism has also been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature. The term is also used to refer to some late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530, especially the Antwerp Mannerists-a group unrelated to the Italian movement. For example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature (especially poetry) and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continues to be a subject of debate among art historians. Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication. Notable for its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities, this artistic style privileges compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting. Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant. Stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Vasari, and early Michelangelo. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century. Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. In Parmigianino's Madonna with the Long Neck (1534–1540), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, highly stylized poses, and lack of clear perspective.