The seminar will review the historiographic problem of defining mannerism and consider its usefullness as a way of engaging with Florentine art of the mid-cinquecento. Mannerism will then be considered from two points of view: firstly, with regard to the theoretical literature of Renaissance art and secondly, in relation to the cultural politics of Duke Cosimo I de'Medici of Florence. Among the artists to be considered are Pontormo, Bronzino, Vasari, Tribolo, and Cellini, along with themes such as the creation of a Counter-Reformation visual culture, the role of the court artist, and the institution of the Accademia del Disegno.