Mannerism

In fine art, the word "mannerism" derived from the Italian word 'maniera', meaning "style" or "manner". It refers to a style of painting, sculpture and architecture. Maniera usually indicate a specific type of style, for example Gothic style or indicate someone "has style" to describe a personal or group style, such as mannerism of Michelangelo.

Mannerism developed in Rome and Florence between 1510 and 1520, during the later years of the High Renaissance. At that time, technical reached near perfection. The young artists find a new goal and approaches to the free play of the imagination. Thus Mannerism appeared.

Mannerism art is quite different with High Renaissance art. High Renaissance art is natural, graceful, balanced and harmonious, Mannerism broke clarity and order. Mannerist compositions were full of artificial and less naturalistic, such as nervous movement, distorted jumble space, arbitrarily proportions, clashing colors, and irrational light.

 Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck, Oil on wood, 1534-40, Uffizi, Florence.

Parmigianino's best know work Madonna with the Long Neck, Painters abandoned the basic structural model that stabilized the painting, and foreground and the background appear without transition. In the middle, the Virgin Mary seated on a high pedestal in luxurious robes and holding a rather large baby. Angels crowded together in a narrow corner on her right side, looking at the Christ-child. In the lower right-hand corner of the painting is a broad, dark landscape, its only focus a very small figure of the prophet. 

This painting full of characteristic of Mannerism such as slender limbs, splayed twisting and turning bodies, contradicting proportion. Jesus is extremely large for a baby and he lies precariously on Madonna's lap. The Madonna is also very large, she is almost twice the size of the angels. Particularly striking is the long gracefully curved neck, which gave the painting the title Madonna with the Long Neck.

However, this bizarre style is also allow us to appreciate another beauty, fantasy, and  creativity.