The term "Mannerism" carries a fraught and contentious historiography that plays a significant role in shaping both the definition and scope of current scholarship. Formative studies by Jacob Burckhardt, Heinrich Wölfflin, Werner Weisbach, and Kurt Heinrich Busse imbued the term "Mannerism" with a pejorative connotation that effectively marginalized mid- to late-sixteenth century art.
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