Mannerism and Anti-Matterism in Italian Painting

Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism is a basic study, by a great scholar, of two major styles of painting in sixteenth century Italy. In this work Professor Friedlaender presents Mannerism and early Baroque as distinct autonomous movements, and establishes their aesthetic and historic importance. The "frenzy of the new expressive style," to which Michelangelo's violent movement and bold experiments in color showed the way, was more than a mere reaction against the high classical style. Friedlaender shows us the positive theory and achievement of the "mannerist" school of Pontormo, Rosso, and Parmigianino, with their intensely personal and eccentric styles. In disregarding the natural in favor of arbitrary, asymmetric, and almost abstract treatment of figures in space, they stretched art's vision and understanding