Abstract

This essay examines the role played by the dichotomy "Classicism"/"Mannerism" in the aesthetical theories developed by Gustav René Hocke and Arnold Hauser. It tries to read their interpretations against the backdrop of previous, contemporary and subsequent examples of adoption of the same aesthetical label. By so doing, the opportunity is given to reconsider the whole category of "Mannerism" in the light of its late xxth century revivals and metamorphoses - an analysis which cannot but lead to question the conditions of possibility of any such categorization.