Styleism In The Works Of Western Art Historians

Mannerism is one of the most controversial topic in Western art history.It refers to the artistic style firstly came out from Italy and then separated to many other European countries from 1520s to 17th century.Mannerist art emphasised the beauty in form,and perused the romantic,unreal and uncommon atmosphere of the artworks.The representatives of Mannerism are Jacopo de Pontormo(1494-1557),Parmigianino(1503-1540),Rosso(1495-1540),Bronzino(1503-1572),El Greco(1541-1614)etc.Giorgio Vasari is first person raised the concept 'manner' in his study,referring to the methods,skills,and also styles and standards of art.Since 17th century,Giovanni Pietro Bellori' s passive opinions on Mannerism has been continually influencing the cognitions of it.Not until the end of 19th century,the reconsideration and re-definition of Mannerist art emerged as Heinirch Wolfflin(1864-1945)concerned it in his study of Classical art.In the beginning of 20th century,Max Dvorak(1874-1921)studied Mannerism by discussing Bruegel Pieter the Elder and El Greco.Arnold Hauser(1892-1978)expressed his interests in his first book The Social History of Art(1952),and published his case study Mannerism:The Crisis of Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art in 1965.His perspective is macro-social history of art.This thesis would not pay much attention to the Mannerism itself,but to find out the reasons and rationalities of different art historians by discussing their ideologies and methodologies behind the studies of Mannerism.