Mannerist Painting Style

Timeline

1. c. 1520–1540Florence and Rome · TuscanyFlorentine painters such as Pontormo and Bronzino, and Parmigianino in Rome, broke classical proportion and balance, responding to the Reformation and changing patronage with cool tones, artificial poses, and allegorical composition, forming an early Mannerist language.
2. 1581–1590Venice and Toledo · CastileIn the 1580s Mannerism peaked in northern Italy and Iberia: Tintoretto adorned Venetian churches with dramatic light and tilted perspective; El Greco painted works such as The Burial of the Count of Orgaz in Toledo, expressing Counter-Reformation mystical passion with flame-like color and spasmodic forms.
3. c. 1590–1610Rome · RomePainters such as Caravaggio in Rome responded to Mannerist artifice with strong chiaroscuro and realistic figures; Mannerist dynamic composition and emotional intensity were absorbed by the Baroque, and Mannerism as an independent current gradually declined while its formal experiments deeply influenced 17th-century European painting.