The Renaissance, which is French for rebirth, was a time of growth both culturally and socially. Individualism became groundwork for a new education where the focus drifted from a narrow scope to broad teachings. A well-rounded education and the new found need for recognition of accomplishments contributed to the very proper and precise artwork that came out of this period. Renaissance artwork, especially the early to mid-period artwork, was extremely stable, controlled, balanced and harmonious. Paintings were proportionate, appropriately colored, logically scaled and harmonious. Artwork was easy to look at and understand and mirrored reality. Both portrait and scenic paintings were accurately depicted, colored and proportionate (Cite Paper, 2000).
The end of the Renaissance period however was plagued with political instability, religious reformation and a separation of religion and politics. Mannerism came about in the late Renaissance period and spanned only about a quarter of the amount of time that the Renaissance did. The artwork became twisted, abnormal and unrealistic. Artists began creating paintings with uncontrolled emotions, elaborate colors, abnormal figures and inconsistent perspective. Figures became exaggerated and unnatural; space was no longer used appropriately or to scale, colors were confusing, inaccurate and embellished, and paintings as a whole looked artificial, restless and harsh.
The drastic changes and rebellion in the paintings were in no doubt due to the turmoil and discontent in the world around them. Artists revolted against the proper teachings of how artwork should look deliberately. The deformity, contortion and inaccuracies in the art were derived of emotions and sentiments regarding the instability of the world around them. The art in the Mannerism period mirrored the turmoil that the artists saw (Find something to cite, YEAR).
Even though Mannerism spawned from the Renaissance period, the two periods artistically are very different. The