Late Mannerism

Mars and Venus Surprised by the Gods
1601

Christ With Children
1621

Perseus and Andromeda
1611

The Apulian Shepherd
1595-1602

Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan
1610-14

Judgment of Paris
1605

Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
1600

Battle Between the Gods and the Titans
1600

Dutch painter Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638) was completely unknown to me until I stumbled across some of his work today. But I immediately became interested because Wtewael was a close contemporary of Caravaggio – yet sturdily refused to be influenced by the fashionable Caravaggio treatment. According to the Getty Museum, "Wtewael was one of the last artists in Europe painting in the Mannerist tradition. Even when other artists had turned to a more naturalistic style in the late 1500s, he continued to paint in an artificial style characterized by acidic colors and willfully distorted poses."