Mannerism is a movement with its beginning in Italian art from about 1520-1600. Developing out of the Renaissance, Mannerism rejected the Renaissance balance and harmony in favor of intensity and ambiguity.

In Mannerist painting, balance and harmony were expressed through severe distortions of perspective and scale, crowded compositions, complex themes, strong or harsh discordant colors, and elongated figures in exaggerated poses.

In architecture, we see an exaggeration of Renaissance forms in scale and proportion, with a greater use of grand decoration.

Mannerism led to way to Baroque.