Art's Wildest Movement: Mannerism

Waldemar Januszczak sets out to position Mannerism in the story of art - when did it happen, what were its characteristics, what did it achieve? Looking back at its origins in Italy, Waldemar focuses on the huge impact of Michelangelo, not only in painting and sculpture, but also in architecture. Also important is the art of Northern Europe, which brought new ambitions to Italian art.

In part two, we see the revolutionary impact of Mannerism as it spread around Italy. In Mantua, Giulio Romano paints extraordinary visions of the Giants attacking the Gods. In Bomarzo, the wild inventions of the Mannerist garden find their most spectacular form. Also important is the emergence for the first time in Western art of women artists, such as Properzia de' Rossi.

Part three celebrates the spread of Mannerism across Europe. The Sack of Rome in 1527 forced many Italian artists to flee aboard, taking the revolutionary new art movement with them. In France, Rosso Fiorentino pushed the decorative arts in a new direction, while in Spain El Greco produced some of the most extraordinary and distinctive art ever painted.