Mannerism in Art History

One of my favorite types of art we have looked at in Art History 236 has been art depicted through Mannerism. Before this class, I had seen pieces that are made within the Mannerism style, but what highly interested me this quarter was discovering the stylistic concepts and historical context behind this period of art. Mannerism was influenced by naturalistic styles of artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and da Vinci but seems to encompass a more artificial, however exceedingly sophisticated quality. Artists like Parmigianino, Pontormo, Bronzino, and Fiorentino have all produced pieces of art within this time, and these similarities can be found throughout their work. Pontormo, specifically, seems to express this graceful notion that Mannerism is known for.
Jacopo Carcucci, or Pontormo , was an Italian artist during the onset and early years of Mannerism. His paintings depict a different perspective then previous High Renaissance artists, with figures elegantly floating in the air, a characteristic of Mannerism. Pontormo uses bright colors to depict a group of people in a grieving manner, supporting Jesus and encompassing the space around him. These figures seem to be struggling, implying that help is needed to sustain the weight of Jesus. The man holding him on the bottom seems to be peering back towards the viewer with an empathically look of fret. The rest of the figures seem to carry the same look about them, floating in this bleak space. Even the man on the bottom seems to be barely grounded, but still seems to be holding an immense weight.
The landscape of this oil painting consists of a dark flattened space, with solid ground and a single cloud in the sky. This is another aspect that is specific to Mannerism, and I find highly interesting. It is also very interesting that no cross is visible in this painting, and perhaps the only item relevant to the “natural world” in this piece consists of the clothing worn by these figures. This is highly evolved from earlier artists that would depict space and perspective with high detail, rather open spaces or flat backgrounds. Pontormo leaves the viewer with a quite ambiguous composition in this sense, and rather implies a more “visionary” painting. The way he has expressed these figures as more elongated and stretched out, is typical of the Mannerism style. Rather then being influenced by nature, artists began looking more at past works and sculptures. It is for this reason that Mannerism has been called as “anti-classical”.
Learning about this different aspects and qualities that define a period like Mannerism has been one of the most interesting and fun things for me to learn in this class. Although sometimes it can be frustrating to hear of so many different historians interpretations, it’s important to illustrate the complexity behind pieces of art. I also think the influence of naturalism but not overall depiction of the style, aids to my fondness of Mannerism. I have really enjoyed learning about this style and period with Art.