In the Florentine and Roman schools the Decadence may be said to have
begun with the death of Raphael in 1520. With the exception of the
Venetian school, in which art did not languish until after the death
of Tintoretto in 1594, painting rapidly degenerated during the second
half of the sixteenth century. Paintings were, of course, produced in
great profusion in every art centre of Italy, but form and subject were
not in true harmony. To a great extent local traditions were abandoned,
the earlier types varied, and three distinctive movements developed—the
“Mannerists,” the “Eclectics,” and the “Naturalists.”