- Counter-Mannerism
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Counter-Mannerism is a general art historical term for a trend in painting, printmaking and interior decoration that originated as a sub-category of Mannerism.[1] Contra-Maniera (or Counter-Mannerism in English) followed the general worldliness of the second generation of Mannerist painters. It is generally disquieting due to its visionary style - a style that evolved in Florentine painting as a result of a revolt against the classical balance of the High Renaissance art.[2]
An example of the Counter-Mannerist style from the period is the Grotesque, which is deliberately anti-actual, often including elaborate depictions of multiple figures bound in tendrils. The Grotesque (in Italian Grottosesco) became an arabesque style of all-over decoration based on a linked mêlée of fantastic, diminutive figures deriving from Roman mural and vault decoration which had been unearthed during the Renaissance (such as at the Golden House of Nero); mural decorations which themselves suggested ancient expressions of religio-sexual inter-penetrability. This fanciful imagery involved mixing animal, human, and plant forms together. First revived in the Renaissance by the school of Raphaël (1483–1520) in Rome, the Grotesque quickly came into fashion in 16th-century Italy and subsequently became popular throughout Europe.[3]
Painters of the style described as Contra-Maniera or Counter-Mannerist
- Domenico Cresti (Il Passignano)
- Lodovico Cigoli
- Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli
- Andrea Boscoli
- Gregorio Pagani
- Santi di Tito
- Bernardino Poccetti
- Giulio Mazzoni Palazzo Capodiferro
- Andrea del Sarto
- Francesco Curradi
- Antonio Tempesta
- Francesco Curradi
- Maso da San Friano
References
- John Shearman, Andrea del Sarto, Volume 1 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965
- John Shearman, Mannerism, Baltimore, MD/Penguin, 1967
- Joseph Nechvatal, Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009
Footnotes
- ^ John Shearman, Mannerism, Baltimore, MD/Penguin, 1967, p.178
- ^ John Shearman, Andrea del Sarto, Volume 1 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965, p. 100
- ^ Joseph Nechvatal, Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009, pp. 198-199
Categories:- 16th century in art
- Art history
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