Mannerism
Pontormo's artistic movement
Mannerism is a style in European art from roughly 1520 to 1600, emerging after the High Renaissance.
It's characterized by elongated figures, unusual spatial compositions, and deliberate departures from classical harmony—artists like Pontormo and El Greco favored elegance and complexity over naturalistic balance.
The term originally carried a negative connotation, suggesting excessive stylization over substance. (Lowercase mannerism is a personal quirk or habit.)
Venetian Mannerist painter
- El GrecoSpanish Renaissance painter
- VasariRenaissance biographer of artists
- elongationIncrease in length
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
Baroque · Florentine · sixteenth-century · painterly · artifice · elegance · stylization · distortion
Given artistic treatment
- ornateElaborately decorated
- elaborateComplex and detailed
- exaggeratedMade larger than reality
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
affected · precious · overwrought · refined · sophisticated · flamboyant · decorative · artificial
Artificial behavior for effect
- quirkPeculiar behavioral trait
- habitSettled regular tendency
- idiosyncrasyDistinctive personal peculiarity
- peculiarityUnusual distinguishing characteristic
gesture · tic · posturing · pretension · eccentricity · artificiality · deportment · bearing
Tintoretto
Venetian Mannerist painter
- El GrecoSpanish Renaissance painter
- VasariRenaissance biographer of artists
- elongationIncrease in length
Renaissance · Baroque · Florentine · sixteenth-century · painterly · artifice · elegance · stylization · distortion · virtuosity
stylized
Given artistic treatment
- ornateElaborately decorated
- elaborateComplex and detailed
- exaggeratedMade larger than reality
theatrical · affected · precious · overwrought · refined · sophisticated · flamboyant · decorative · artificial · contrived
affectation
Artificial behavior for effect
- quirkPeculiar behavioral trait
- habitSettled regular tendency
- idiosyncrasyDistinctive personal peculiarity
peculiarity · gesture · tic · posturing · pretension · eccentricity · artificiality · deportment · bearing · conduct
- art formspainting, drawing, sculpture, photography, music
- art stylesimpressionism, surrealism, cubism, realism, pop art
- Fine Artoil painting, portrait, landscape, sketch, watercolor
- paintingoil painting, watercolor, acrylic paint, oils, oil paints
- architecture stylesart deco, Art Nouveau, minimalism, modernism, Modernism
- art historyart history, Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, modern art
Mannerismnaturalism
Worldview excluding the supernatural
classicism · harmony · balance · verisimilitude · mimesis
Mannerismnaturalness
Unaffected, uncontrived quality
unaffectedness · spontaneity · artlessness · genuineness · simplicity