During the Low Renaissance, a historical period and artistic style emerged, whose definition has been controversial, since it is understood as the imitation of the mannerism of masters of painting or, on some occasions, as the direct reaction to the aesthetic ideals presented in the painting. classicism. Often, it is seen as an intellectual and elitist expression, which served as a background to the excesses presented in the Baroque style; likewise, it is seen as an extension of the rich art provided by the great geniuses of the High Renaissance and which was despised by critics of the time for being "decadent and degenerative."
"Mannerism" comes from "maniera", which for 16th century writers, represented the "artistic personality"; therefore, and with the evolution of the term, it began to be used to talk about a specific style, such as the maniera greca (the Greek way), the maniera vecchia (the old way), among others. Later, he would begin the use of "manieristi", as the name received by men who painted following the particular style of another artist, such as Leonardo Da Vinci (maniera leonardesca) or Miguel Ángel (maniera Michelaneglesca or grande). It was from the seventeenth century that it began to be used in a pejorative sense, since the intellectuals of this time defined the mannerists as "simple imitators, who rummaged through their paintings."
Mannerist plastic arts are characterized by representing the human body both naked and covered by extravagant clothes, in strange positions, with longer than natural limbs and a somewhat small head. The play of colors is far from the real thing, since they are cold and artificial, facing each other without the existence of a range of colors. Literature, for its part, was melancholic and disenchanted, with certain humanistic Renaissance features.
