"Manierismo was the extreme consciousness of elegant style for its own sake, a passion which unites the cold narcissistic nudes of Bronzino, the elaborate chiselling of Benvenuto Cellini's saltcellar, and the water-games in a duke's garden. Shearman's essay ranges across sixteenth-century music, literature and architecture as well as art: it is a model of breadth and concision." - Observer