Mannerism and the Late Renaissance

After about 1520, many artists in Italy turned away from the calm balance of the High Renaissance. They stretched proportions, crowded or flattened space, twisted poses, and used cool, shimmering or unusual colors. Art historians later named the style Mannerism, from the Italian maniera, "style" or "manner": for the art writer Giorgio Vasari, writing in 1550, maniera was a term of praise for refined, graceful artifice.

Looking closely: Eleonora of Toledo. Bronzino, court painter to the Medici dukes of Florence, painted Duchess Eleonora, wife of Cosimo I, with one of her sons. She sits stiff and upright against a flat blue background, her face smooth and pale as porcelain, her expression cool and distant. Her gown, gold and black brocade with a pattern of pomegranates, is painted thread by thread and seems more alive than she is. The portrait is about rank and dynasty, not personality: a perfect, polished, unapproachable image.

Looking closely: The Chess Game. Sofonisba Anguissola of Cremona painted three of her younger sisters at a game of chess, watched by their governess. The sister at the left looks out at us, about to win; the youngest grins; the sister at the right lifts her hand in surprise. It is a portrait of a family moment, warm and lively, in rich costume. Anguissola became so admired that she later served at the court of Philip II of Spain.

Looking closely: View of Toledo. El Greco ("the Greek," Domenikos Theotokopoulos, 1541 to 1614) was born on Crete, trained as an icon painter, studied in Venice and Rome, and settled in Toledo in Spain. Here the city climbs its hill under a stormy sky of torn clouds and flashes of light. The greens are unnatural and vivid, and he moved the cathedral tower to a place it does not really stand. It is less a map than a vision of the city. El Greco is often grouped with Mannerism, but his style is so personal that many scholars treat him as a case of his own.