Mannerism

Mannerism was an art movement that originated in Italy around 1520, succeeding the High Renaissance. Mannerist art departed from harmony and balance toward an elongated style with exaggerated features meant to provoke thought or surprise. Figures were often portrayed in complex, contorted poses within fantastical landscapes or bizarre scenarios.
Mannerism developed in elite courts of Florence and Rome. Prominent artists include Parmigianino, Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. They were influenced by masterpieces of Leonardo and Michelangelo but aimed to express heightened emotion, uncertainty and inner angst instead of perfection or joy. The Mannerists rejected Classical proportions and geometry, using unstable, asymmetrical compositions with unnaturally elongated figures in complex poses. Their works were more intellectual than decorative, meant to convey mystery or inner torment.
By the 1540s, Mannerism spread to France, Flanders and beyond. But it fell out of favor as Baroque art arose emphasizing grandeur and drama aided by the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Mannerism later regained appreciation for capturing the anxieties of an era grappling with Reformation and social upheaval.
At its heart, Mannerism represented a crisis of ideals within Renaissance humanism. Through deliberate distortion and obscurity, Mannerist artists conveyed disquiet and spiritual rumination rather than the order or transcendence of the High Renaissance. They pushed art from faithful depiction of nature into realms of fantasy, doubt and allegory.
Though no longer on the cutting edge of art by the 1600s, Mannerism expanded the expressive possibilities of Western painting. Its fantastical and bizarre style aimed to stimulate thought rather than please viewers with beauty or finish. In doing so, Mannerism opened the way for increasingly personal and symbolic art. Its influence endured in drama and allegory within Baroque art as well as modern focus on angst and human experience over ideal beauty alone.