Baroque

one big misshapen pearl

STYLE ARTISTS and IMAGES VOCAB

HISTORICAL NOTE
Baroque art falls into the period of Counter-Reformation led by the Catholic church against the Protestants. Much of the Baroque art, especially in Italy, reflects reaction to Mannerism, but also the social turmoil of the time. According to the Council of Trent and the Catholic church artworks should be a clear, intelligible subject realistically interpreted in order to stimulate piety. This was part of the reason that the artwork turned towards naturalism, becoming emotionally engaging and intense.

STYLE

• strong perspective effects
• dramatic color
• dramatic light and dark (chiaroscuro and tenebrism)
• movement of figures (especially upwards)
• broken and agitated draperies
• loose brushstrokes
• heavy impasto
• dense and detailed compositions (for emotional impact on viewer)
• Wofflin's 5 points of the differences between Baroque and Renaissance
  • recessional compositions (not planar)
    • Baroque art has continuous overlapping of figures and elements where the Renaissance and clear defined planes that recede in depth. Baroque art often has a sweeping diagonal element that crosses many planes.
    • painterly instead of linear
    • The figures in Baroque art are merged better through chiaroscuro that blends the edges of each form. This creates a mystical union of all the figures/elements. Renaissance art treats each figure in isolation and they appear as discrete objects. Color contrasts, outlines, contours or hard edges contribute to this linearity.
  • open form (not closed form)
    • The figures in Baroque art seem projected out into the viewer's space (so that the viewer becomes involved in the picture).
  • unity rather than muliplicity
    • Baroque art uses light (and other compositional elements) to create meaning instead of for its purely naturalistic effects or to reveal form. The light sources often are not natural or there are multiple sources. The meaning often emphasizes what will happen in the moment after that depicted.
  • tendency towards unclearness
• subject matter includes or shows
  • grandiose visions
  • ecstasies and conversions (religious)
  • martydom and death (religious)
  • ephemeral moments and the passage of time
  • intense light
  • powerful psychological renderings (outward emotions, intense contemplation)
• OVERALL:
• EXAMPLES: (Italian) Caravaggio, Bernini, (Spanish) El Greco, Velazquez, (Low Countries) Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt

ARTISTS and IMAGES

• Italian Baroque
• Spanish Baroque
• Baroque in the Low Countries
• French Baroque

  Italian Baroque
  Caravaggio The Conversion of St Paul Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome 1601
  Caravaggio The Crucifixion of Saint Peter companion piece of The Conversion of Saint Paul Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome 1601
  Caravaggio Calling of Saint MattewSan Luigi dei Francesi, Rome 1600
  Caravaggio Death of the Virgin Louvre, Paris 1606
  Artemisia Gentileschi Judith and Maidservant Institute of the Arts, Detroit 1625
  Francesco Borromini San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Rome 1665-1676
  Gianlorenzo Bernini David Galleria Borghese, Rome 1623
  Gianlorenzo Bernini The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome 1645-1652
  Gianlorenzo Bernini Piazza and Colonnade Sculpture and architecture at saint Peter's, Rome
  89. Gianlorenzo Bernini Baldacchino at the crossing of the church over the tomb of Saint Peter Saint Peter's, Rome
  Gianlorenzo Bernini Cathedra Petri The throne of Saint Peter Saint Peter's, Rome
  Spanish Baroque
  El Greco The Burial of Count Orgaz Santo Tome, Toledo 1586
  El Greco Portrait of Fray Hortensio Felix Paravicino Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1609
  Jose (Jusepe) de Ribera The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew Prado, Madrid 1639
  Diego Velazquez Los Borrachos ("The Drinkers") Prado, Madrid 1628
  Diego Velazquez Portrait of Juan Pareja Metropolitan Museum, New York 1650
  Diego Velazquez Las Meninas ("The Maids in Waiting") Prado, Madrid 1656
  Baroque in the Low Countries
  Peter Paul Rubens The Elevation of the Cross Antwerp Cathedral 1610
  Peter Paul Rubens The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus Alte Pinakothek, Munich 1617
  Peter Paul Rubens The Arrival of Marie de' Medici at Marseilles Louvre, Paris 1622-1625
  Gerrit van Honthorst Supper Party Uffizi, Florence 1620
  Jacob van Ruisdael View of Haarlem Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague 1670
  Willem Claesz Heda Still Life Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam 1634
  Rembrandt van Rijn Supper at Emmaus Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Paris 1628-1630
  Rembrandt van Rijn Supper at Emmaus Louvre, Paris 1648
  Rembrandt van Rijn Return of the Prodigal Son Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) 1665
  Rembrandt van Rijn The Three Crosses etching, 4th state 1653
  Rembrandt van Rijn The Conspiracy of Juilius Civilis National Museum, Stockholm 1661
  French Baroque
  Georges de la Tour Adoration of the Shepherds Louvre, Paris 1645-1650
  Nicolas Poussin The Burial of Phocion Louvre, Paris 1648
  Nicolas Poussin Et in Arcadia Ego Louvre, Paris 1655
  Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellee) Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba National Gallery, London 1648
  Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellee) Pastoral Landscape Private Collection 1640s
  Louis le Vau, Claude Perrault, Charles le Brun East Facade of the Louvre Paris 1667-1670
  Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart Garden Facade of Versailles Versailles 1660-1685
  Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Charles LeBrun Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) Versailles 1680
  Andre Le Notre Gardens of Versailles Versailles 1660s
  Francois Girardon Apollo Attended by the Nymphs Gardens of Versailles 1666-1672

  VOCAB

  chiaroscuro
  tenebrism
  Caravaggisti
  Counter-Reformation
  barroco (Portuguese for 'misshapen pearl')
  Pope Urban VIII (of the Barberini family)
  impasto
  Calvinism
  engraving
  etching
  stoicism
  mode
  Dorian mode, order
  Dorians
  Louis XIV

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