The older art lovers were a little disappointed. “The master has gone too far mannering the women,” they said. “Those aren’t women. Imagine what they would look like if they stood up.”
But the young artists smiled at that old generation who weren’t able to comprehend the revolution coming. They smiled and they went home and tried out Michelangelo’s new manner on their own canvasses.
“And that was the straight road to [their] ruin,” said Burckhardt.
By “ruin” he meant Mannerism—a style of art they toyed with for thirty years.
The great Tintoretto was intrigued by the bunches of muscles everywhere on both sexes. Many wanted to experiment with the curious masculine shapes Michelangelo gave to the female nudes Night and Dawn, and their unusual elongation.
“Long is pretty,” they told themselves and proceeded to stretch their figures and give them long necks and small heads for elegance. Cellini put both innovations into this Nymph of Fontainebleau that he sculpted for a delighted King Francis.