ROOT/Renaissance Overview/Late Renaissance
The Late Renaissance
A major landmark in the development of Italian Renaissance art was the sack of Rome in
1527, which temporarily ended the city's role as a source of patronage and compelled
artists to travel to other centers in Italy, France, and Spain. Even before the death of Raphael, in 1520, anticlassical tendencies had begun to
manifest themselves in Roman art. Some early exponents of Mannerism, including Jacopo
Carucci Pontormo, Parmigianino, and Rosso Fiorentino, contributed to the development of a
style that reached its most extreme expression in the work of Giorgio
Vasari and Giovanni da Bologna. Mannerism was an aesthetic movement that valued highly
refined grace and elegance--the beautiful maniera, or style, from which Mannerism takes
its name. Although the basic characteristics of Late Renaissance style were shared by many
artists, this period, dominated by Mannerism, was marked by artistic individuality--a
quality demonstrated to its fullest extent by the late works of Michelangelo. The display of individual virtuosity became
an important criterion of artistic achievement, and rivalry often provoked competition
based on brilliance of individual performance. The self-consciousness of Mannerist
artists, and their efforts to match or surpass the great masters who had immediately
preceded them, were the symptoms of a somewhat overripe development, far removed from the
fresh dawn of discovery that first gave meaning to the concept of the Renaissance.
Related Reading
Early Renaissance
High Renaissance
Overview