Mannerism

In the late High Renaissance time period, Mannerism began to emerge as a response to Protestantism. It incorporates the real visual aspects such as light and shadow, but it is very dissimilar from humanistic paintings from those such as Leonardo da Vinci. Mannerism in a sense embodies more a theatrical feeling rather than the fascination of how realistic the piece is; the people and environment in mannerist art seem much more synthetic. Exaggerated features and appendages are a common sight to emphasize what they sought out for in beauty. In this blog, I will be comparing Pontormo’s “Entombment” and Parmigianino’s “Madonna of the Long Neck.”

“Entombment” (also known as the Deposition of the Cross) was painted circa 1525-28 by Jacopo Pontormo and can be viewed at the Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicia, Florence. At first glance, you can see the theatricality of the expressions on each of the figures faces; each one portraying an emotion of anguish, misery or sadness.  Limbs and gestures fill the piece in a way that was not conventional from the renaissances earlier pieces. Due to the lack of space, all of the figures seem to be fitted almost uncomfortably in the restrictions, even furthering the sense of panic. Also, the Virgin Mary seems much larger than anyone in the painting; she seems to trump Jesus even though he is within our foreground.  We do not see the following of rules such as the pyramid or triangle seen in previous renaissance works, but a much more scattered and chaotic, but balanced, composition.

“Madonna of the Long Neck” (or Madonna and Child with Angels and St. Jermone) is an oil painting by Parmigianino painted about 1535-1540. The painting depicts Madonna holding (a very large) baby Jesus and on the left angels come crowding in the admire him. Though the expressions are not as melodramatic as we saw in Pontormo’s painting, we still get the exaggerated features (as the title suggests). Knowing that the Christ child is suppose to be depicted as a baby, we can clearly see that instead of extended features, his entire body is enlarged, appearing more as a young child; perhaps this was to even further the attention on to him. Also, we see Madonna’s elongated neck, which stretches up and peers down at the young Christ. Also, the angel (on the left in our foreground) legs seem lengthened to a point that does not seem to follow an ordinary appendage. Another contradiction to Pontormo’s work was the seemingly sporadic gesturing. In “Entombment,” we saw movement in almost every limb, “Madonna of the Long Neck” s much more subtle with the figures, with the exception of the Christ child’s restless posture. 

These two pieces both depict biblical stories in a manor much more stylistically than what we saw in previous Renaissance period artwork. Instead of careful system in placing people and figures, a much more random and unsystematic method is being portrayed. Mannerism moved from the realistic point of views to a different aesthetic with a taste that went beyond what we would see in the world.