What is Mannerism?

Mannerism is a modern word used to describe an artistic tendency that involved many forms of art, which developed in Europe after the Renaissance, approximatively in the mid-16th century. For what concerns painting, the main aim of the "maniera" artists was that of impressing the audience with their technical abilities, which included extreme foreshortening of the figures, use of bright colors and unusual scale, and an overall artificiality given by the contorted poses and the forced elegance. Michelangelo was one of the primary sources of inspiration, especially for the study of musculature in his work for the ceiling of the Sistine chapel (1508-12) and the Last Judgment (1536-41). The subject matter had a secondary role in the creations of the artists following the maniera, who privilaged instead the artistic achievement.