Mannerism & Cinquecento

Mannerism or maniera is an art historical term used by art historians to describe a reaction after 1520 and the loosening of a rigidly classical style and idealised naturalism which reached its apogee in the production of Raphael and his circle. Originating in Rome and Florence and spreading north to Fontainebleau in France and to the Low Countries poses became extravagantly contorted, compositions abounded in complexity and colour which became either ‘shot’ or metallic in tone. By the 1590s, less dynamic and increasingly ‘limp’, proto-Baroque displaced Mannerism leading to more dramatic representations became the favoured imagery. Leading Mannerist artists were Bronzino, Bachiacca, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Domenico Beccafumi ,Dosso Dossi and Wtewael, all artists sold by The Matthiesen Gallery to leading international institutions.