Maniera: Pontormo, Bronzino and Medici Florence

Description

Brimming with numerous illustrations and essays, this lavish book brings together the best in Mannerist art from the city of Florence, where the movement was born. Emerging in the early 16th century on the heels of the Renaissance, the mannerist style arose out of the art world's attempts to further the incredible achievements of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. Mannerist art comprises many facets: it is elegant, cultivated and sophisticated, but also artificial, extravagant and sometimes even bizarre. Some called the art of Maniera "the stylish style". Spanning the period from the return of the Medici in 1512 and the first tentative steps of the new generation of artists to the definition of the Maniera in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists in 1568, more than 120 paintings, drawings and sculptures from the world's leading museums are gathered in this book. It features works by Andrea del Sarto, Rosso Fiorentino and Giorgio Vasari, with a special focus on the work of Pontormo and Bronzino, the central figures of Florentine mannerism. The developments in art during the decades in question are closely related to the history of the city of Florence. Refined elegance and creative extravagance render the painters of the Maniera a particular phenomenon in the art of Italy. This beautifully produced and authoritative book presents the achievements and practitioners of one of the most intriguing and influential periods in the history of European art. AUTHOR: Bastian Eclercy heads the collection of pre-1800 Italian, French, and Spanish painting in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt. 285 colour illustrations

Bastian Eclercy heads the collection of pre-1800 Italian, French, and Spanish painting in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt.

"Eclercy (head of the collection of pre-1800 Italian, French, and Spanish painting at the Stadel Museum) and other prominent scholars discuss key holdings from the Stadel Museum...The catalogue is divided into eight sections with entries and essays on Mannerism; the Medici restoration; four different versions of the Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand; the early work of Jacopo Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino; how art produced before the sack of Rome compares with later work; the impact of the paragon, or rivalry between the arts; and Vasari as court artist and art historian. Summing up: A . Highly recommended." -Choice "[This] accompanying volume to [an] exhibit ... is a work of art in itself. The abundant illustrations include copies of paintings not on display at the Stadel, thus enabling more thorough comparison with those on view. The perceptive essays in the book, edited by the noted historian, Bastian Eclercy, raise many important questions - and answers - about this controversial chapter of the Renaissance." -Art Eyewitness